Does anyone know about teaching in Edinburgh

[Librarybooksandacoconut]

We are tentatively thinking about moving to Edinburgh from London next year to be closer to my parents (dad has health issues). I'm a primary teacher and wondered if anyone knew how easy it would be to find a teaching job in Edinburgh?

I've got a Pgce and 2.1 degree from English universities (so qualify for gtcs registration) plus an MA in primary education. I've been teaching for 10 years in London in schools that have high levels of deperavation and EAL. Most recently I've been a assistant head, and I'm about to start a new part-time job as a senco.

Is not having any Scottish experience going to put me at a massive disadvantage? I'm happy to do supply for a bit to build up some experience, but I'd really be looking for something permanent asap. I did high school in Scotland and have standard grades/highers so I have some idea of the education system, but I'm obviously 15 years out of date! Do you think depute jobs would completely out of my reach at the moment?

Thanks for any information anyone can give me!

Argh - forgot the question mark in my title! Honestly I'm much better at writing when I'm actually teaching!

Hi

Sorry can't be much help about Edinburgh. You probably are already aware but just when you mention knowing the education system because you did SG/H, the education system has completely changed in last 5/6 years and we have Curriculum for Excellence now which takes pupils from 3-18. It's all quite different now in both primary and secondary.

I know nothing about primary or Edinburgh but have moved from England to teach in Scotland. A couple of things; I would register with the GTCS and get yourself a PVG well in advance of applying for jobs. It can take quite a while to be approved and often you can't apply with GTCS registration. Also, be aware England and Scotland notice periods are very different, only a month required in Scotland so many advertised jobs are for a start date much nearer than the required notice in England. I was lucky in that my new school were willing to wait three months for me to start.

I think you'd be best to speak to the education department at the council and the GTCS. My gut is that you'd struggle to get a deputy position due to lack of Curriculumn for Excellence experience, GIRFEC etc which the other candidates will have.

Thanks everyone for the responses. We won't be moving for a while so I've got plenty of time to sort registration out. Hopefully I'll be able to get a class position fairly easily and work my way back up. It's just a bit frustrating that I've got lots of experience (and am good at my job!) but it feels like it won't count for much. Hopefully I'll be able to pick up things quickly as working in English schools I'm very used to having to make massive and regular changes in curriculum and policy! At least the underlying principles of what makes good teaching and leadership remain the same wherever you are (rather than what's in fad with the government at the time!)

Not sure what it's like in Edinburgh but I think in Glasgow, it's the council that recruits non-promoted posts in primary schools and then allocates out to the schools as required. It's only promoted posts that the school gets to recruit itself. So it might still be worth keeping an eye out.

I'm not a teacher though - just going by my experience on the Parent Council.

The GTCS looks at every application individually, so says their website, so no guarantees until you apply to them, though I am sure you will be fine. You could start reading the cfe stuff now, it's all online.

prettybird - that may be the case in Glasgow but it's different in other LAs.

OP - sort out your GTCS registration first. That's the "big" thing because you can't teach up here without it.

I have a couple of colleagues who had quite a hard time getting registered up here but that's Secondary sector where subject specific requirements are quite stringent - well they certainly were a few years ago.

Primary sector is outwith my knowledge though!

By the the by - I think Depute jobs are out unless you look at the independent sector where they might take your experience into account. They don't have to follow the same LA criteria.

But independent schools up here are now having to ensure all their staff are GTCS registered.