17 February 2022

The independent professional and regulatory body for teachers in Scotland, the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS), has now closed its consultation on proposed changes to its registration rules.

It is a legal requirement for all teachers working in Scottish schools to be registered with GTCS and in 2018, there was a national agreement that all lecturers working in Scotland’s colleges would register with GTCS. The Register of Teachers can be used by members of the public to check the registration status of teachers and lecturers, and by employers as proof of registration.

In October 2021, GTCS opened a public consultation on proposed changes to its registration rules which closed in January 2022. Whilst GTCS are not due to provide a response to the consultation until Spring of this year, the changes noted below are a relatively clear indication of what can be expected.

Nature of the rules

GTCS’s Registration Rules set out:

• the criteria for registration for all applicants (and the related decision review processes);
• what information is held on the Register of Teachers and what information is made available to the public;
• the criteria for the award of any enhancement to registration (for example the Professional Standard for Headship and Professional Recognition) (and the related review processes);
• ongoing requirements on the part of Registrants relating to registration (e.g. to engage in the Professional Update process, maintain up to date contact details and pay an annual registration fee); and
• when a teacher may be removed from the Register (and related review processes).

It should be noted that the Registration Rules are distinct from the Fitness to Teach Rules which cover the investigation and determination of the fitness to teach of an applicant/Registrant.

Reason for change

GTCS has undertaken an internal review to evaluate how well the current Registration and Standards Rules meet the needs of the Scottish system and meet the mission, aims and values of GTCS. As a result, GTCS has identified areas where the current rules could be refined and updated.

The current Registration Rules are now over six years old and as Dr Pauline Stephen, Chief Executive and Registrar of GTCS states, “Over the last six years there have been many changes to Scottish education, teaching and GTC Scotland’s own policy context, including the introduction of mandatory registration for teachers in the independent school sector and college lecturers, as well as a new requirement for headteachers in local authority and grant-aided schools to be awarded the Professional Standard for Headship.

Brexit has also taken place, meaning the legal framework in relation to the recognition of professional qualifications between European member states is no longer in place. Recognising all of these factors and following internal review and engagement with key stakeholders, we are now consulting on proposed new Registration Rules to ensure that our Rules and associated policies are in line with the current practice and needs of the Scottish education system”.

Proposed changes

Below are some of the key changes proposed:

• Additional Support Needs would cease to exist as a category of registration.
• Once on the Register of Teachers, GTCS propose to recognise a teacher’s qualifications in additional support needs, and other specialist areas, through a process of registration enhancement.
• In order to protect the integrity of the Register of Teachers, the status of Provisional (Conditional) registration would no longer be issued.
• The full Registration (Associate) status would be closed and the practical operation of Professional Update would be reviewed to ensure it is fit for purpose.
• A transitional/grandparenting arrangement would be put in place for the onboarding onto the Register of Teachers of the lecturing workforce employed on and prior to 1 April 2019.
• The scope of teaching qualifications that meet registration criteria in the category of further education would be broadened.
• Any lecturer appointed on or after 1 April 2019 would require a recognised or validated teaching qualification for entry to the Register of Teachers as a teacher of further education.
• To be registered on the Register of Teachers, individuals who qualified outside Scotland would need to hold a teaching qualification (meaning they have completed teacher education comparable to that required of a teacher qualified in Scotland) and have the relevant academic qualifications at the point of application.
• The introduction of a qualification-based Accredited Specialism Framework to allow a registered teacher to add area(s) of specialism to their registration.
• The Registration Rules would detail the obligations and requirements for registrants in maintaining their registration.
• A registration review would no longer be referred to the panel process and instead a formal internal review process would be followed.

Further information on the proposed changes can be found here: https://www.gtcs.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/consultation-document-registration-rules.pdf.

Next steps

GTCS made clear within the consultation document that any new rules would be expected to take effect from 4 April 2022. If that is the case, GTCS’s response to the consultation on the proposed changes should be published shortly. It is important that applicants and existing Registrants pay careful attention to the new rules to ensure that they are fully aware of what is expected of them to gain or maintain registration.

Please get in touch with BTO’s Professional Discipline team if you would like to discuss this topic or any other aspect of the regulatory process.

Sophie Lennox, Solicitor: sle@bto.co.uk / 0131 222 2939