TEACHERS WHO GAINED their qualifications outside of Scotland are to be allowed to teach in Moray schools.
A new ‘conditional registration’ system is being put in place that will allow teachers to take up posts with immediate effect – although they will be on a ‘probationary’ period until such time as they have completed additional training required for full registration in Scotland.
The move comes after a national taskforce formed by seven Scottish councils, including Moray, looked at the crisis that resulted in a chronic shortage of teaching staff.
Moray Council has also found itself in a situation where there have been several qualified teachers living in the community as part of RAF and Army military families, but who they have been unable to employ because the regulations in Scotland forbade their teaching in this country.
The General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) has acted in the face of a landmark legal ruling in 2014 that found a science teacher from England had wrongly been prevented from working in Scotland because a lacked a degree recognised by the GTCS.
Now the GTCS has introduced the new flexible arrangement that should ensure any teacher trained in other parts of the UK can take up posts in Moray.
Larry Flanagan, general secretary of the Educational Institute of Scotland, said: “It is essential that Scotland’s high standards of teacher professionalism are maintained so that only appropriately qualified staff are deployed in our schools.
“The new rules for conditional entry to the register offer a practical solution to a challenging recruitment issue while also ensuring that the high standards expected of all Scotland’s teachers can continue to be upheld.”
GTCS officials have confirmed that they are currently in discussions with Moray Council to allow former teachers living among the military communities at RAF Lossiemouth and Kinloss Barracks to fill long-standing vacancies in local schools.