A JOINT INITIATIVE between Moray Council and the University of the Highlands and Islands is aimed at helping alleviating the serious teaching recruitment issues faced by the local authority.
Earlier this month Education Secretary John Swinney confirmed that the Scottish Government would be supporting the UHI in offering education in secondary subjects at Moray College.
Now the local authority has confirmed that from August the campus at Moray College in Elgin will offer one-year full-time teacher training in three subjects – physics with science, technological education and home economics.
The training will be accredited by the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) with each course participant allocated a “school subject mentor” and undertaking a 19-week full-time school placement during the programme.
That will allow a balance of theory and practical experiences for course participants who will complete the entire programme in Moray. However, only a limited number of places will be available and candidates must be resident in Moray as well has having a degree from a UK higher education institution or a degree of equivalent standard gained outside the UK.
In addition, the content of the degree held must satisfy the ‘Memorandum of Entry’ requirements set by the GTCS.
Applicants will also require to have gained SQA Higher English at Grade C or above (or equivalent) and SQA maths National 5 at Grace C or above (or equivalent). As the courses will also have an online element, applicants will need to have competent ICT skills.
Director of education and social care at Moray Council, Laurence Findlay, said: “The aim of the programme is to produce adaptable, flexible teachers able to collaborate and co-operate with other professionals, ready to face challenges of teaching in the 21st century and commit to the notion of lifelong learning.
“We are delighted that these three subject areas are the ones being trained locally as these are very often the ones we struggle to recruit in the secondary sector.”
Further details and an application form are available from Samantha.Bright.Moray@uhi.ac.uk
The local authority contact at Moray Council is janet.cornall@moray.gov.uk.