Best ways to get a sense of living in Scotland

[Pieandchips999]

Has anyone made the move from England to Scotland and can recommend the best way for us to make sense of the differences?
I've mostly grown up in England and my wife is English. I'm half Scottish and half Canadian and was born in South Africa.

Trying to work out whether to relocate and if so where. We love Edinburgh but so do a lot of people and it's very expensive of course. My Dad was Glaswegian but not sure if that would be my top pick. Debating maybe Troon but not really sure where to begin.

Also we're a same sex female couple so needs to be somewhere where we would be welcome. I know I prefer the education and house buying system but beyond that need to do a lot more research

It’s a difficult question to answer because it totally depends on where you want to live. Cities aren’t as sprawling and there are fewer of them. If you’re interested in education do your research before you move as our experience isn’t that the Scottish system is superior to the English one (I’ve many concerns, standards aren’t great and at times it feels like the bar is constantly being lowered.) Uni is still free which is one positive but some seem to be in dire straits financially.

It also depends on your income levels. Taxes are higher vs England. I’d say the NHS has the same challenges and probably less access to specialist centres just due to the difference in scale between the two countries. Otherwise having lived in both for over 20 years it’s not hugely different but again that depends on where in England you are as to whether cost of living is much cheaper.

Your location is likely to be dictated to by employment unless you’re fully flexible. If so I would advise renting for 6 months to get a feel for an area - it’s only when you live somewhere you find out all the little quirks and benefits a place has.

We should be able to get jobs easily in most places as we work in children's services. Probably we'd look at somewhere on the outskirts of the city or a diverse town. Although we like the idea of being near the coast.

I've lived in a bunch of places in the UK in London and the South and then in the Midlands again in a range of different areas. I think that's what makes it tricky not knowing where to begin. And Troon being relatively expensive. I've got a mortgage where the majority is a low rate with a long fix but the other parts are at a higher rate. So we wouldn't be able to rent first as there's no way we'd get a similar deal (it's portable). I think it's the secondary and Uni system I appreciate but has a mixed improvement of the primary system when visiting

Look at East Lothian

It's hard to say, I had friends from the London area relocate to Scotland during covid but in the end they moved back down south. I love it here, I grew up here and was born here to Scottish parents but many find it too small and say it's nice to visit, beautiful but essentially to them its like living in nowheresville.

Somewhere like Kinghorn / Burntisland? On the train to Edinburgh, easy commute to Kirkcaldy / Glenrothes / Dunfermline, not crazy expensive, on the coast.

It's really hard to say.I had a friend go back having not lived there since she was a child. Her family had moved back. They went back to Lanarkshire.

Between glasgow and edinburgh and easy to access either.

I'm not sure anywhere in Scotland is particularly diverse, depending on how you mean the word. I live in Edinburgh (immigrated to Scotland from the states forever ago) and it's overwhelmingly white, though there are people speaking all sorts of languages anywhere you go.

I work at a university and I don't think University will be free for much longer in case that's relevant.

I relocated from England to Scotland for a job, having only ever visited once before. It is very different, but not (at least I didn't find) in ways that were hard to adapt to. I've had no problem being a lesbian parent here either (though as a PP says it's hard to find areas that are particularly diverse, and meeting a partner in the first place was the hard part. But you've done that bit already).

However, if you really are not sure where (or even whether) to relocate, it sounds like you both really need to spend some time here. If you can't rent first, would you have the budget for some longish holidays in a couple of areas? I live in quite a touristy part of Scotland and you can normally get good deals on long stays in Airbnbs or similar outside of the main tourist season.

I'd also suggest joining a few local facebook groups for areas you're considering.

We moved four years ago. I don’t find life particularly different but we have moved to a reasonably well off coastal town.
Education - I don’t find the school here as rigorous as the one we left, and that was a nothing special west London primary with a very diverse intake. They have a very hands off approach to homework / learning spellings etc, it all seems to be ‘if you have time’ and all the homework suggested is online maths games when the last thing I want is my child on my phone/even more screen time. Everything from the curriculum to diet to uniform was carefully enforced at our previous school. I was very surprised that things part of the provision at our old school eg swimming lessons, are not provided here.
NHS - can’t really comment as we haven’t had to use it. Maybe two doc’s appointments? Both times seen quickly but that may just be the reality of a small town practice v the one we came from (big city). prescriptions are free but again have been lucky to not need any prescriptions so far.

Im Scottish but my other half is English and he has not received any negative comments at all about not being from here. Again we’re in a busy town with a lot of people commuting into a big city so plenty of English people around.

I would suggest joining the local community Facebook group for the place you are thinking of moving to, keep an eye on posts to try and get a flavour of the town/crime issues. And visit as much as possible!

Shetland is beautiful and people are friendly.

I don’t think you can figure it all out - you have to make it work really, moved here years ago now having done just holidays and a couple of days looking at housing. Once you make a decision, you have to lean in and find solutions. The only significant downside has been how far away we are from parents, tricky as they are now very old.

State education outcomes in Scotland are poor and getting worse, and violence in schools is a big issue. The NHS is in dire straits but same in England. Taxes & particularly stamp duty are higher. I'm Scottish and enjoy living here but I'm not sure I'd recommend relocating here from England at present - especially if we get another term of the SNP (generally incompetent, misogynist & anti-English)

I moved to Scotlsndfrin England in 2020 Iknew very little about it. I have lived in many parts of England including London and a remote village in the south west 70’s). I absolutely love it here will never return to England permanently and even struggle for more than 4-5 days. I live in a time village on the coast I love the peace and quiet the wonderful wildlife, the stunning scenery, we have a very low population density a busy day on my local beach is 4 people. I find the Scots very friendly welcoming and unpretentious. They are very tolerant I work with lesbians trans etc no one bats an eyelid.
I can’t comment much on education but friend's/colleagues with children seem happy with it. It seems less pushy than in England. I have extensive experience of the NHS in both England and Scotland both professionally and personally. You travel a lot here e.g 100 miles to get an MRI but in terms of appointments IME it’s better here, I can easily see my GP. Of course there are issues here both in primary and secondary care but they pale into insignificance in comparison with NHS England it’s war there. This isn’t just my professional opinion many other HCPs who move from England to Scotland will say the same.
Having said all of this a friend moved here 5 years ago and hated it she thinks it’s insular the people not friendly and ultimately boring. She gone back to England.
Two other things the winter is very obviously darker here especially the further north you go although the summers are significantly lighter. On the west side it rains and rains and rains it’s still very green here unlike much of England, and the further up the west coast you go the more likely you’ll be eaten alive by midges don’t underestimate how irritating this is. We stayed on the edge of Loch Fyne it was stunning but on the odd occasion it stopped raining we couldn’t sit in the garden because of the midges! I’ve been to other parts of the west coast again stunningly beautiful but similar problems. And on the north east where my family live when the wind blows it’s bloody cold and it may rain less but shit when it rains it really rains!
If for example you love everything London offers then Scotland may not be for you. Having said all of this if you love the great outdoors. peace and quiet generally friendly people wildlife then I personally don’t think it can be beaten.

Scotland is not one place which is the same all over ! That’s like saying someone from Edinburgh moved to the depths of the English countryside and found England as a country too quiet and remote. 😁

I was talking specifically of friends from London moving to Glasgow or Edinburgh. It depends on what you are used to, what your looking for and if expectations match to reality. For example I work as an artist. Glasgow is known for it's lively art scene and yet most of what happens in Glasgow could fit into a small side street in London, half a side street.

On the surface Troon can be a bit staid but it has an active LGBT group and there are loads of gay people living in Troon.

Irvine is a bit cheaper - some Irvine kids go to Marr College but don't automatically get a place.

If you work in children’s services do you mean you’re a social worker? If so the legislative framework and child protection landscape is very different to England, so you’ll need some training to get up to speed. Jobs are plentiful in that there’s a shortage of child protection social workers, which also means the practice landscape is tough.

If you’re looking for jobs, be aware there can be huge differences in salaries between local authorities, as much as £7/8k . Some local authorities pay less but have capped caseloads (Edinburgh comes to mind). You’ll need to register with the SSSC for most children’s services jobs, so have a look at their website. Ignore me if you’re not actually a social worker.

From my observation: The educational level is very low compared with England and very little is expected of children at school, in terms of academic work or discipline. The exam system is dire - they don't learn much and just have to regurgitate stuff in a set way. There's a lot of violence in schools here. As I understand it, schools aren't allowed to discipline or to exclude violent bullies. The government is very incompetent (and a prosecution is ongoing for corruption at the top of the SNP). It wastes a lot of money. It's extremely ideological - particularly obsessed with trans rights (and with independence, obviously). It only consults with the people it knows will agree with it. The SNP always wins elections because of the independence issue, however bad they are at governing, which feels undemocratic. The government is really autocratic here. For example, we are not allowed to employ someone to stay in our home to dog sit when we're on holiday, or to do a house swop, unless we go through an onerous and expensive licence application process every 3 years. They introduced the Hate Crime Act to police what people say, even in their own homes. Recently a committee recommended making it illegal to allow a cat to go outside (because they play with birds before killing them). That's not going ahead, but you feel that anything could happen at any time.
The NHS here is in a terrible state. In some places you have to wait a month or more for a GP appointment. And be aware that the 2 week rule for suspected cancer referrals doesn't exist here. The equivalent is a 9 week target, and it's very often missed.
Crime, in particular serious sexual violence, is going up rapidly. There seems to be a lot of low level crime by teenagers too, not helped by the fact that the age of criminal responsibility is high here, and criminals under the age of 26 get treated more leniently. There have been shocking cases of young rapists getting off almost scot free.
House buying - there doesn't seem to be a rigorous house survey system here, which is something to look into if you want to buy a non-standard property.
The countryside is very beautiful, but unfortunately there's a growing problem with tics carrying disease, so you have to be very careful. You're running a risk if you sit on the grass or wear shorts when in the countryside (and depending on where you live that can be a problem in gardens too).
Just a few things to be aware of. There are positives too, in particular the amount of wild open space, cooler weather in the summer, quieter roads, some good local communities, etc.

It’s interesting how peoples experiences differ. I suspect there are huge regional variations just like in England.
I live in a rural mainly farming community employment opportunities are quite limited sadly many young people leave the region in search of employment and training.
I personally can’t comment on education my DCs were educated in an England but I mentored a school pupil and some uni students. IME of both they seemed interested articulate and conscientious. I trained to be a secondary school teacher in England if anyone tells you children in England in state ed are not “regurgitating stuff in a set way” to pass exams they are seriously delusional. Thats one of the reasons why I left at the end of the training. Colleagues chat about their children and what they are doing at school etc none appear to have concerns about discipline or violent pupils certainly nothing worse than you’ll find in English school. I’m not saying it necessarily better but I see/hear nno evidence that education in Scotland is worse than in England.
As I’ve already said I can easily get a GP appointment I worked in England and had to regularly contact GPs it was virtually impossible. All the cancer patients I meet professionally are happy with how quickly they are seen/treated etc.
In my area there is simply no crime let alone violent crime.
We have a lot of deer here I walk 2-3 hours a day in the spring summer and I regularly sit on the grass/wear 3/4 length trousers as do most of my friends this year none of us got a tick, 3 years ago I got 5 in total if removed in 24 hours there is no risk. Obviously people do get bitten but so do people all over the UK. We do have a lot of adders where I live and they are a particular risk to dogs I nearly stepped on a young one a couple of days ago but I don’t curtail activities because of them. In fact I love seeing them because they are rare.
My biggest gripe is the lack of cultural opportunities especially when compared to London. But that’s hardly surprising London is a global city with all the opportunities assocated with being such an important place.
It’s easy to assume the pasture is greener somewhere else, but England and Scotland and I guess Wales and NI (never been to either) will have their own strengths and weaknesses.

There's plenty in the press. For educational attainment, look at the PISA figures - a very steep drop in attainment over the past decade or more under the new Curriculum for Excellence. The most frustrating thing is that before that Scotland had a great international reputation for its education system. That's been deliberately thrown away. In my experience Scottish schools are very "relaxed", rather than wanting everyone to attain their potential. If you don't realise what children are doing elsewhere, you don't realise how low attainment is. It's your local normal.
Teachers 'constantly on alert' as violence soars in Scotland's classrooms | STV News
'Staggering' increase in reports of sexual crime in Scotland - BBC News
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If you haven’t experienced school violence you could be forgiven for thinking it’s not happening, but when your child does you are thrust into Scottish government policies that give the school no powers to meaningfully restrain the bully and safe guard your child. Schools are utterly unable to do anything. It’s disgraceful.

The CfE has been a disaster. Kids learning about things like how to make a decision, without first being given the knowledge they’ll need to weight up. Exams such as English / modern studies are totally meaningless. Points given not for knowledge but for the lay out of your answer.

Scottish education is in a truly dire state. I’m not sure how they can bring it back. My P3 child had a mini outing the other day. There was uproar as no one had reminded parents that the outing was that day and their child was off but they’d have be in if they’d have known. Apparently this happens a lot. Parents not bothering to bring kids to school, but all if a sudden if it’s a fun event or something parents could boast about on SM they’re in. Mind blown.

Our local primary school has 30 children the secondary 300 pupils the children in our village seem to do well most go off to good universities, a Chinese friend whose daughter was educated in Singapore for 1/2 of primary before moving here and now goes to another localish secondary is hoping her daughter will go to Cambridge she is impressed with the support from the school. On the other hand a colleague has moved her daughter because of bullying but nothing worse than friends in England would complain about. I worked in schools (in England) as well as having children in both the state and independent sector. One parent/childs experience even in the same school could be totally different from another. I thought the pastoral care at DC2’s school was amazing another parent thought it was appalling. I thought DC1’s school was a total exam factory only interested in the high achievers, my neighbour couldn’t sing its praises high enough.
State education in England is now completely underpinned and influenced by progress 8 meaning that means MATS in particular when combined with financial restraints increasingly marginalise or remove from the curriculum any subjects that don’t influence your score this includes all the softer subject art music DT etc. I’ve no idea if this is the same in Scotland but I think this is appalling wherever it happens. League tables also influence education in England. I was talking to a teacher who’s taught in both countries and he preferred teaching in Scotland he felt English education was “very prescribed”.

Of course other teachers and parents in Scotland will have their own views. No where is perfect Scotland certainly isnt perfect but I do know there I live and where my DC live there are significantly less people less pollution more wildlife less cars glorious peace and quiet something many in England will tell you doesn’t exist, downsides; crappy weather at times not great public transport especially away from the central belt limited cultural opportunities, and mainly similarities to England a struggling NHS an education system that many people feel is failing their children I could go on. I’ve lived in both England and Scotland I love it here for me the obvious positives put way the negatives.

The syllabus and teaching in Scotland is very inflexible once you get into the exam years (from 4th year) - it's just teaching to the exams, with huge emphasis on writing your exam paper in the right way (eg including 2 points not 3, and using the right words (apparently if you say precipitation instead of rain you don't get a mark). The children don't actually seem to learn much, let alone develop their own essay-writing style or critical thinking. The first 3 years are not exam years and our experience there was that not much work was done and everything was very basic (because why push the children / teachers if there's no exam at the end of the year?). There was very, very little homework. However the children are performing, parents are told that they're meeting expectations (because the teacher's expectations are low, both generally and for your child).
Another problem is the narrower choice of subjects in Scottish schools. Even mainstream subjects are often not available in the 6th year (there's only one 6th year in Scotland). And in the earlier years the small number of exams sat by pupils (maximum of 5 in the 5th year, generally) means that if a child does a soft subject they miss out on an important subject. So I think it's much more difficult to justify them doing a soft subject in Scotland than in England, where they may be sitting 10 or 12 GCSEs. There's also pressure to decide between the arts and the sciences very young.
Both children and parents are told that what pupils are doing is hard, the exams are tough, etc, etc. So they believe it. I have Ukrainian friends living locally, and they've noticed that their primary school child is doing very little at school, has no homework, but has been led to believe by teachers that he's working really hard and will be tired after school (finishes at 3). So he claims that he just needs to relax and watch tv when he gets home. They're quite shocked by it.
Schools must vary, for the usual reasons, but the schools around us are supposed to be above average.