General Teaching Council for Scotland

The General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) (Scottish Gaelic: Comhairle Choitcheann Teagaisg na h-Alba) is a fee based registered charity [1] and the world's first independent self-regulating body for teaching.[2] The current Chief Executive is Ken Muir and the current Convener of its Council is Derek A Thompson.

History

GTCS was the first professional registration body for teachers in the United Kingdom, and one of the first teaching councils in the world.

It was set up in 1965 under the Teaching Council (Scotland) Act 1965 [3] following concerns that entry requirements had lowered after the Second World War and unqualified teachers were working in Scottish schools. Its powers, remits and duties have since been amended by other legislation, including the Teaching and Higher Education Act 1998 [4] and the Standards in Scotland's Schools etc. Act 2000.[5] It is a legal requirement for all teachers working in Scottish local authority schools to be registered with GTCS (The Requirements for Teachers (Scotland) Regulations 2005 [6]).

On 2 April 2012 GTCS was granted independence status by the Scottish Government. The Teaching Council (Scotland) Act 1965 was repealed and replaced by the Public Services Reform (GTC Scotland) Order 2011. The Public Services Reform (General Teaching Council for Scotland) Order 2011 [7] was made by Scottish Ministers in accordance with the Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act 2010 [8] and passed into law on 17 March 2011.

Functions

Under The Public Services Reform (General Teaching Council for Scotland) Order 2011, GTCS’s general functions are to:

standards of education and training

A suite of Professional Standards provide a framework for teachers at all stages in their careers.[9] A revised set of standards came into use in August 2013.[10]

Governing Council and committee structure

Role of the Council

The Council has a significant role to play in shaping the teaching profession of Scotland and maintaining and improving professional standards. It does this by developing and monitoring the strategic direction and policy of GTCS by determining entry standards to teaching, accrediting courses of teacher education and by setting clear expectations of the profession in its range of published Codes and Professional Standards.

Council membership

GTCS is governed by a Council made up of 19 elected teachers, 11 nominated educational stakeholder representatives and 7 appointed lay members, who make decisions on matters of strategy and policy. Council membership is determined following a rolling programme: election, nomination and appointments processes take place every two years and half of the members step down at the end of each two-year period.
The standard council member term of office is four years and a member is not eligible to serve more than two such terms in any 20-year period.

Committee Structure

Council members may serve on the following committees and sub-committees:

Adjudication panels

The Council has a series of panels that adjudicate cases about the fitness to teach of individual teachers.

Panels are composed of non-Council members, both teachers and lay members, who have been appointed by the Appointments Committee.

The Council also has an arms-length Appeals Board which is made up of independent, non-Council members. The Appeals Board addresses cases in which an appeal against certain decisions have been made.

Appointments Committee

The Council has an appointments committee which is made up of independent, non-Council members. The appointments committee is responsible for appointing the seven lay members of Council and the membership of adjudicating panel members.

Supporting education in Scotland

GTCS performs a number of functions to support and inform the teaching profession and the wider public about Scottish education. It produces a magazine issued five times a year ( Teaching Scotland). This publication carries a range of news articles and features about education activities across the country. It is issued to nearly 80,000 teachers on the GTCS register.

In addition to this, GTCS holds a number of events throughout the year to promote and recognise the teaching profession. This includes, among many other activities, its Annual Lecture. The Lecture has previously been given by Annie Lennox, Lord David Puttnam, Christopher Brookmyre, Baroness Warnock and Sir Harry Burns amongst others.[11]

GTCS operates a number of websites providing information about education in Scotland including Teaching Scotland Online and in2teaching, a website for probationers.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Extract from the Scottish Charity Register". Office of the Scottish Charity Register. Retrieved 17 July 2014.
  2. ↑ "EIS welcomes election of world's first independent teaching council". Retrieved 2012-04-24.
  3. ↑ http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1965/19
  4. ↑ http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1998/30/contents
  5. ↑ http://www.legislation.gov.uk/asp/2000/6/contents
  6. ↑ http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ssi/2005/355/contents/made
  7. ↑ http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ssi/2011/215/contents/made
  8. ↑ http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ssi/2011/215/contents/made
  9. ↑ "The Standards". General Teaching Council for Scotland. 13 March 2013. Retrieved 7 October 2014.
  10. ↑ "GTCS launches revised Professional Standards". Teaching Scotland Online. GTCS. 13 March 2013. Retrieved 7 October 2014.
  11. ↑ "Events: National Lecture 2014". Teaching Scotland. GTCS. Retrieved 7 October 2014.
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