Teaching in Scotland - job situation

[Anylurk]

Hi all, my partner is a qualified teacher who gained his teaching degree in Canada. We are hoping to move back to Scotland (Glasgow) in the next few years but from everything I'm reading it would be really hard for him to get a job in the Glasgow area/surrounding areas. Teachables are history and possibly modern languages. Is there any hope? all I am hearing is that it's impossible to get a job.

First step has to be to contact GTCS and get recognition of QTS. He might have to take some kind of top up/conversion course to even have his teacher status recognised (esp if he doesn't have the required standard in maths and English which all teachers in Scotland are required to have)

Yes, I am a bit concerned he will not be eligible at the moment and may need to do some additional university courses. What do you mean by a conversion course, it's there such a thing?

First step is to contact the GTC. He cannot teach in any school in Scotland without registration. He may need to complete a probationary period.

https://www.gtcs.org.uk/registration/apply-as-a-teacher/qualified-outside-scotland-teacher/

Aberdeen uni used to do a part-time PGDE for overseas teachers whose qualification wasn't equivalent to Scottish ones. As pp said, contact the GTCS they are really helpful and supportive through the process of moving into Scotland and getting your registration (or they were when I moved to Scotland anyway)!
In terms of jobs, they're like hens teeth in the central belt but up north and in some rural areas there are jobs that schools struggle to recruit for. I'd have a look at LA job webpages for the authorities that you're keen on. Have a look at the SCIS website too, they advertise a lot of the jobs going in Scottish independent schools.

It will be very hard to find a History role in the central belt. Definitely do not move on the assumption he will find work in teaching.

Is your husband Scottish? Best bet is to pick up a supply or temporary role, gain some kind of experience teaching in Scotland and teaching or at least understanding N5/Higher. I would say impossible to get a permanent or temp contract without this.

Thanks for your replies all.

He's not Scottish, his degree is in philosophy and he is qualified to teach history and RE. However, he currently works teaching french in a school for children will additional support needs. He'd prefer to teach modern languages and I think there are more jobs in this subject but doesn't look like it's possible with his degree.

He'd be willing to sub if there was any hope of a job eventually!

Supply (sub) work is hard to get to. Takes a long time to even manage to get onto the supply list for each local authority. I recommend joining the Facebook group - Scottish supply teachers to get a realistic perspective on the situation. There are not enough permanent posts and far too many people stuck long term on supply lists competing even for the odd day.

He could also consider working as a college lecturer in social sciences - we don't require a PGDE, you do a qualification called TQFE that many lecturers do on the job. He'd also get paid more (pay award pending for 22/23) once he reaches the top of the scale.

If he’s willing to travel a bit then inverclyde is only half an hour from glasgow and there’s often jobs with fewer applicants as people feel it’s out the way. Same with Dunoon and largs.

Thanks, we will look at Inverclyde as well, and FE.

Teaching jobs for the local authority (private schools will not be on there) are advertised on the myjobscotland website. He can have a look on there to get an indication of what vacancies there are in the areas he is looking.

He will need QTS as a prerequisite, he would stand more of chance for modern languages than a social subject as those vacancies are few and far between. But usually the preference is for two languages either French & Spanish or French & German.

There are lots of newly qualified teachers in Scotland unable to find permanent jobs.

Glasgow is desperate for supply teachers. If he can get onto teacher booker he'll get work.

Thanks all. I'm heartened to think there might at least be supply work available.

Does anyone know if you need a degree specifically in the subject you teach? He has a philosophy degree rather than a french degree, and although he teaches french here in Canada, I'm not sure he will be eligible to teach it in Scotland. Not clear if he would need a whole degree in french or if just doing a sufficient number of university courses would be ok. GTCS have not given a straight answer
...

When I qualified (a long time ago) you needed to have a certain number of credits related to your subject in your degree course in order to get on the PGCE course. Post-qualification Scotland is also much stricter than England in that respect, where anyone with a teaching qualification can be asked to teach any subject. What I don't know if that given he already has a teaching qualification and experience if GTCS might accept that. Before doing anything else, getting registered with them is key.

I think that's an interesting one, OP. He's really a native French speaker given the dual language of Canada. Phone the GTC tomorrow rather than searching the website.

Generally speaking you need to be a 'subject specialist' to teach a specific subject in Scotland, meaning at least half your degree is relevant to the subject you're teaching, or equivalent qualification and experience.
But as he's a native French speaker it might be different.

Your degree (or most of it) should be in the subject you want to teach, but GTCS would be able to advise him. History is massively oversubscribed in the central belt so could be quite tricky. I think it would be easier to find a French job, but he would need some French within his degree I believe. Some schools do offer philosophy but they are few and far between. Good luck!

DD is currently doing her PGDE. One of her classmates has an English PGCE but that doesn't qualify her to teach in Scotland so she is having to do a further qualification.