Flexible Route FAQs
Do you have a question about the Flexible Route? It might be answered here:
Yes. Flexible Route probation is an equally valid alternative to the Teacher Induction Scheme (TIS), and FR provisionally registered teachers must show they have met the Professional Standards for Full Registration in the same way as TIS provisionally registered teachers.
No.
Once withdrawn from TIS, you are on the FR path and there is no option to return to TIS.
Most posts are advertised on myjobscotland.
Independent schools, advertise the TES and SCIS websites.
On FR you can only apply for fixed term or supply work, you cannot apply for permanent posts. Most probationer teachers begin their FR path on supply and must be interviewed to be included on a supply list. You can apply to supply lists in more than one local authority.
Yes. If following the FR working abroad, the curriculum of the school you work at must be comparable to the Scottish curriculum. For example, international schools would be acceptable, whether they are following a UK curriculum or International Baccalaureate curriculum.
We will ask you to complete a document-based Flexible Route profile.
Once you have completed your profile, you must request a recommendation by a headteacher or senior leader with current Full (General) Registration with GTC Scotland.
This headteacher must have:
- made at least one formal observation of your teaching practice and
- had a professional discussion with you to complete your final Key Strengths, Areas for Development and Professional Action Plan.
- been employed at the school of the headteacher or senior leader making the recommendation. There are no minimum days required, but we advise that an observation is completed after the equivalent of a period of 20 days working in your recommendation headteacher or senior leader’s school. This is to ensure that they can make an informed decision when endorsing you.
Once you have completed your profile requirements, you will need to engage with a headteacher or senior leader with current Full (General) Registration with GTC Scotland. They do not need to be working in Scotland, but they do need to professionally endorse your ability to meet the Standard for Full Registration.
The headteacher or senior leader needs to complete a declaration on your profile to confirm that they recommend you being awarded the Standard for Full Registration. Once they have recommended you, you must submit your completed profile to us.
If you do not have a GTC Scotland registered headteacher or senior leader, please contact us.
You must be delivering lessons in the English language.
Most Flexible Route provisionally registered teachers are given a period of 3 years from the point of being awarded provisional registration, to complete 190 days teaching service.
You will have three years in which to complete your probation period. You will begin with a minimum of 190 days to complete, minus any days confirmed as satisfactory by the local authority at the point you withdrew from TIS.
If may take a longer period to complete the Flexible Route. The headteacher or senior leader you have asked to recommend you for Full Registration will only sign you off once they are confident that you have met the Standard for Full Registration.
On the Flexible Route, most probationers must complete a minimum of 190 days teaching service, of which 55% (105 days) must be in their subject of registration. The remaining 45% (85 days) can be completed in other subjects, including Additional Support Needs (ASN).
For Primary probationers, 55% of your teaching service must be in Primary and the remaining 45% can be in Additional Support Needs or employed as a teacher in a school nursery.
You access your FR profile through MyGTCS.
Once logged in, use the profiles tab to open your profile.
You will be given a username and password when you gain Provisional Registration.
You need to have at least 9 observations of your teaching throughout the course of your profile.
Each FR probationer is responsible for finding their own supporter, and some may not be able to find a supporter; for this reason, supporter meetings should be recorded, if possible, but this section of the profile is not mandatory.
You also need to make a minimum of 6 professional learning entries: 2 entries in each of the 3 sections of the Standard for Full Registration.
FR probationers need to enter records of teaching service and get these signed off by a headteacher or supporter. For every record of teaching service entered that exceeds 20 days, a corresponding observation is required. For any record of service over 45 days, the person signing you off will be asked to comment on your key strengths and areas for development; this is not a section that you fill in yourself.
In your Professional Development Action Plan at the end of your probation, you must enter a minimum of 1 target in each of the 3 areas of the Standard for Full Registration.
The maximum you can be asked to work on FR is 22.5-hour per week of class contact. This in line with the national Scottish agreement (class contact time; the rest of the week is made up of non-contact time). As an FR provisionally registered teachers, you are not entitled to support for professional learning, but we often find that schools do accommodate where possible. In contrast with the Teacher Induction Scheme, on FR the school does not receive Scottish Government funding for support, so FR provisionally registered teachers are not guaranteed non-contact time. For schools outside of Scotland, the timetable would depend on local guidelines for the region.
Online Profile - You enter teaching records and submit them to the headteacher or supporter, who will receive email notification and a reference number that they will use to associate their GTC Scotland profile with yours and sign off the teaching record.
Document-based Profile - You need to get your headteacher or supporter to sign it off manually. We do not accept digital signatures; all signatures must be hand-signed.
Yes, the headteacher or senior leader who recommends you for Full Registration must have current Full (General) Registration with GTC Scotland.
This headteacher must have:
- made at least one formal observation of your teaching practice and
- had a professional discussion with you to complete your final key strengths, areas for development and professional action plan
You must have been employed at the school of the headteacher or senior leader making the recommendation. There are no minimum days required, but we advise that an observation is completed after the equivalent of a period of 20 days working in your recommendation headteacher or senior leader’s school. This is to ensure that they can make an informed decision when endorsing you.
If you do not have a GTC Scotland registered headteacher or senior leader, please contact us.
You must complete a minimum of 190 days teaching service, of which 55% (85 days) must be in your subject of registration to gain full registration.
Once this is achieved, you may be able to become provisionally registered in an additional subject or sector and work towards professional registration.
We can accommodate an extension depending on individual circumstances.
If you think you need an extension to complete your probation period you should contact us when the deadline is approaching.
Accepted reasons for extending the probation period include: problems finding posts or inability to work due to illness.
No more than 2 extensions can be given per FR probation period.
Flexible Route for adding a subject of sector to your GTC Scotland registration
Teachers with Full Registration can apply for professional registration in an additional subject or sector.
If you meet the qualification criteria explained on the following page, you need to complete a minimum of 20 days of probation using the Flexible Route profile to get professional registration in your additional subject/sector.
The Flexible Route is the only process which enables you to structure your progress towards adding an additional subject/sector to your registration status.
You are required to both undertake and record a specific period of satisfactory teaching service and hold the appropriate academic qualification in every subject/sector in which you seek to gain Professional Registration. For example, you may be fully registered in History and have enough credits within your degree to enable you to teach Modern Studies.
Once you have applied for your additional subject through Professional Registration, you will be given provisional registration in that subject and a probationary period to complete.
You need to meet the Standard for Full Registration in your additional subject/sector. To do this you will need to record your teaching service and follow the document-based report process, undertaking a minimum of 20 working days of satisfactory teaching service as a probation period.
A minimum of 20% of your timetable must be within your additional area of registration for all days to be credited towards your probation. A final report is required, evidencing 3 observed lessons, 6 records of professional learning and Professional Development Action Plan. Your headteacher is then required to sign, date and make a recommendation, which they do on the front page of the report, before you submit to us for full registration.