- Home Registration Qualified Outside Scotland Qualified Outside Scotland – College Lecturer
Qualified Outside Scotland – College Lecturer
We welcome and support applications from college lecturers who qualified outside Scotland.
Teacher education
If you have not completed your teacher education please do not apply. You should wait until you have successfully completed the full teacher education programme and your awarding Higher Education Institution is able to provide you with written confirmation. If you apply before this we will not be able to assess your application and we will not be able to refund your processing fee.
Teaching Qualification required
An applicant must have:
- completed teacher education equivalent to 60 Scottish Credit Qualifications Framework (SCQF) credit points
- part-time study of 3 years or less
Teaching qualifications should:
- extend to SCQF Level 9 or above
- be comparable to the Scottish Teaching Qualification – Further Education (TQFE)
- included professional studies and study of the method and practice of teaching adult learners (andragogic studies)
- included college-based teaching experience observed and assessed by the awarding Higher Education Institution
Find out more about the SCQF on their website.
Required teaching experience
At least 190 days of teaching experience in a college setting is required. We request details of referees who can confirm this experience as part of the application process.
Guidance
College Lecturer Checklist
Please click on each item on the checklist below to view specific details of the information required.
You will need to have taught in a college setting for a minimum of 190 days in order to be considered for registration in the Further Education category.
We require reference reports on this service from the college(s) where you were employed.
We will ask you to confirm:
- college name(s)
- dates of employment
Before you start your application, please source contact details of referees who are happy to support your application for registration with GTC Scotland.
We recommend that you nominate a referee from each college where you have worked as a lecturer. It is important that you include a referee at your current college. This referee should be your line manager.
Information Required
We will ask you for:
- their full name;
- their work email address.
How we contact your referees
We will contact your referees directly via email, once your application has been received. They will be asked to complete a reference form commenting on your teaching ability and return it to us.
All reports must be given in English so that they can be read and understood by your case assessor. You may want to contact your referee to check whether there is an English-speaking member of staff currently employed at the school who would be able to assist with completing the report in English.
- We require a copy of your original qualification certificate issued by the Higher Education Institution/Universty/College or alternative proof as outlined below. This is a mandatory document and you will be unable to submit the application unless uploaded.
Details you will be asked to enter in the application form:
- the title of your teacher qualification
- name of awarding education institution
- country where you qualified
- date of the award
- age range your teacher qualification relates to
If you are yet to be issued with your award certificate
If you have recently completed your teacher qualification, you should provide an official statement from the awarding education institution where you qualified, giving the following information:
- the title of the qualification
- the date on which you passed the qualification
- that you are not subject to any appeals process
- that there are no known impediments to you being issued with your teaching qualification certificate at graduation
If you have lost/no longer have a copy of the document
You will need to provide an official statement from the awarding education institution, confirming the title of your teacher qualification and the date of the award.
This is the document showing the modules studied during your teacher qualification.
Please provide a scanned copy of your birth certificate. If you do not have this document please include either your Driving Licence or utility bill that confirms your postal address.
This is a mandatory document and you will be unable to submit the application unless uploaded.
The image below shows an example of the passport page required. This page should show your photograph and details.
This is a mandatory document and you will be unable to submit the application unless uploaded.

As part of the assessment process, we will check whether your teacher qualification is comparable to the Scottish Teaching Qualification in Further Education.
We need the following information to be confirmed by the awarding education institution:
- the age range your teacher qualification relates to
- that teaching practice observed and assessed by the awarding higher education institution was included
If the above is not clear from your teacher education transcript, you will also need to provide an official statement from the education institution where you qualified, clearly confirming the above information.
This document can be uploaded at the end of the application process via the upload page.
This can either be a Marriage Certificate or Deed Poll document.
We require a criminal record check from applicants who have spent 3 months or more (in a single period) in a non-UK country in the last 10 years and applicants who were born and have lived overseas until adulthood. Find out more.
Criminal Record Check
All applicants are required to be a member of Disclosure Scotland’s Protection of Vulnerable Groups (PVG) Scheme for regulated work with children and protected adults. Find out more.
We require all documents that are not in English to be officially translated. We would recommend that you visit Association of Translation Companies where you can find your nearest translation company.
Documents
Before you start
- This application has a total of 10 pages, all pages are to be completed.
- This application does not have an auto-save functionality, you will need to fill in the form in one session.
- You will be unable to submit your application unless you have attached the required documentation listed above.
- You will be unable to save and print a hard copy to send to GTC Scotland