Teaching in Scotland

[glamourousgranny42]

I currently live and teach in England but our long term goal is to move to Scotland. I teach A levels at the moment and appreciate that the Highers are different.
I expect that I would, at least start off, with supply teaching. So my questions are A) do you have experience of supply in Scotland, and is there much available B) would I need to do a conversion course to teach in the Scottish education sector.

Thanks for any experiences or advice :)

What is your subject? Agree that there is a big shortage of supply teachers here.

Thanks for the advice folks.
I teach A level psychology, I have also taught sociology, general humanities and PHSE.
I teach in an FE college at the moment so Im used to terrible pay!

I was in a similar position to you 12 years ago, although I am a primary teacher. Once I had been accepted by the GTCS (Quite an onerous form if I remember but they accepted me!) I had no problems at all finding both supply and permanent work. (I am in the central belt). Also, I was top of the scale in England - as it was at the time - and this was honoured by the GTCS so no starting from the bottom again. I didn't need to do any conversion course - just picked it up as I went along! - but I appreciate it may be different at secondary level. I agree that the first thing you should do is chat to someone from the GTCS. Good luck!

Similar to TheApprentice; once registered with GTCS I started top of the pay scale as in previous job in England. You can only register in a subject with enough Higher Education SCQF credits in the subject you wish to register in from a list of approved subjects. You will have to provide a degree transcript and a PGCE transcript (note that other routes to QTS, such as SCITT, GTP etc are not accepted by GTCS). They will not take into account teaching experience in a subject you do not have a degree in when awarding registration, though this is useful in determining full or provisional registration. Registration costs £189. It can be straightforward.....or a bloody nightmare (in my case!). PM me if you want any more info.

You really need to check if your degree will allow you to teach here. Very few schools offer Psychology, you won't get a school job if that is all you can offer. Your best bet is Modern Studies which is basically Politics/Sociology. Offered by most schools along with Hist and Geog. But you will have to check if your degree content will allow you to be registered to teach it. The requirements in terms of degree content have been raised recently too.

I appreciate your advice and experience. I will definitely get in touch with the GTCS and see what my options are. It sounds much more restrictive than England (not that it's a bad thing) I knew someone who was qualified to teach social sciences, she said she was learning to play guitar on her cv and at an interview was asked if she would be willing to teach music! In a secondary school!!