GTC Scotland has a duty to work in the public interest. We do this by setting, upholding and promoting teaching standards.
We share our knowledge and expertise with policy makers to support decision-making in relation to education, regulation and wider social policy affecting teaching standards.
We also have a legal duty to make recommendations to Scottish Ministers about matters relating to teachers’ education, learning, career development and fitness to teach, and the supply of teachers.
Read our policy positions below.
Teaching is a graduate profession in Scotland. It is also a complex profession: intellectually, ethically and relationally. Registration provides a safeguard for quality education, and it is a legal requirement for teachers to teach according to their registration category.
It is essential that this understanding of what it means to be a teacher in Scotland underpins national education strategy and policy.
- We call for better understanding and appreciation of teaching, including providing a definition of ‘registered teacher’ in the relevant legislation to better protect what it means to have and use this title.
- We call for greater support to allow teachers to expand their registration categories. This will provide the flexibility the education system needs to address teacher supply while continuing to uphold high standards.
Education, learning and development throughout a teacher’s career needs to be designed and resourced appropriately to support the enhancement of professional expertise. It is an oversight to focus national policy or legislative solutions on one component part of the teacher education and development journey, such as teacher induction, without considering the part others can play.
- We call for a refreshed teacher education and development framework that supports teachers at all stages of their career and offers professional development that reflects the particular level of expertise of the individual teacher.
- We call for a long-term strategic focus on improved professional learning and development for teachers that is relevant, on demand and of a high quality.
Read Reimagining teacher education in Scotland: teacher induction
As professionals, teachers need to be in the driving seat of their development. We need to put better structures in place to give teachers the time to learn and reflect.
The complexities of teaching mean teachers need time to explore current issues in collaboration with colleagues, identify what they mean for their teaching, implement new approaches and evaluate their impact. Engagement with teaching standards is fundamental to this process.
Effective professional review and development (PRD) for individual teachers must be prioritised and enhanced. PRD is an essential part of Professional Update, which is the reaccreditation process that teachers must complete to maintain their GTC Scotland registration.
High-quality PRD, together with Professional Update, help to improve the quality of teaching and learning.
- We call for putting better structures in place to give teachers the time to reflect, learn and evaluate.
- We call for a more supportive environment for teachers to engage meaningfully and proactively with Professional Review and Development and reaccreditation.
Effective professional review and development (PRD) for individual teachers must be prioritised and enhanced. PRD is an essential part of Professional Update, which is the reaccreditation process that teachers must complete to maintain their GTC Scotland registration.
High-quality PRD, together with Professional Update, help to improve the quality of teaching and learning.
- We call for putting better structures in place to give teachers the time to reflect, learn and evaluate.
- We call for a more supportive environment for teachers to engage meaningfully and proactively with Professional Review and Development and reaccreditation.
Urgent and coordinated action is needed to fully understand what the barriers to teaching being viewed as a valuable and attractive profession are. For example, workload, workplace culture, a lack of flexible working models, the impact of inspection on morale, cuts to education and the compounding effect of learners requiring additional support.
Many factors cross into areas beyond our statutory role, highlighting that the system needs to work together to understand and define what the issues are, and the action required to meet them.
It is essential that any work on teacher recruitment, retention and promotion incorporates the work led by the national anti-racist education programme, ensuring a diverse profession that better represents our communities.
We can also learn from international education systems that have comparatively better teacher recruitment and retention rates.
- We call for a coordinated, collaborative and outward-looking approach to defining and then removing the barriers to teaching being viewed as a valuable and attractive profession.
- We call for deeper efforts to collect, gather and connect data across stakeholders to better understand current and future teacher supply requirements.
Gathering and analysing the data we hold helps us to identify trends within the teaching profession and learn more about the career-long teacher experience.
We share our analysis with the Scottish Government, employers, higher education institutions (HEIs) and other partners as it is often the role of others in the education system to make policy decisions based on what the data shows.
We have been calling for joined up and coherent system regulation for some time – by this, we mean oversight to ensure the quality, safety and effectiveness of education services in Scotland.
There needs to be greater clarity of the roles and responsibilities of those working within and in support of the education system. There also needs to be a coordinated approach as to who investigates when and what information should flow between organisations, particularly in safeguarding matters.
This should include designated responsibility for ensuring that the component parts work well together and have all the right checks and balances within them. We consider that the Education Assurance Board and refocused inspectorate will have roles to play.
- We call for a coherent system of regulation with effective oversight to improve public confidence in education delivery and to ensure child safeguarding and protection.
- We call for longstanding information sharing issues to be resolved as a matter of priority.