‘Some of my teaching friends have given up… and found other work’

Eve Stockley, a teacher from England who relocated to Unst, Shetland, contributed evidence to Holyrood’s education committee saying fully qualified members of the profession felt “insulted” at having to go back to being a probationer.

In her evidence to MSPS, she suggested teachers were forced to take pay cuts by going back to probationer level, which was discouraging those who wanted to come to work in Scotland.

Ms Stockley said teachers of her acquaintance had given up trying to work in Scottish classrooms and had been forced to turn to other methods of making a living.

“Myself and a number of other teachers I know have moved from England to Scotland as fully qualified teachers to have to start again from scratch due to the General Teaching Council Scotland (GTCS) wanting completion of a probation period,” Ms Stockley said in her submission to the education committee.

“I have been teaching for over 12 years, was at the top of the pay scale in England with teaching and learning responsibilities and then have gone back to being a probationary teacher for the past two years.

“I have been told this was because most of my teaching experience was in a special school (even though we work to same standards as other schools).

“Other teachers I know have been teaching mainstream and still have to do this probationary period.

“Some of my teaching friends have given up completely trying to get full registration and found other work.”

She added: “I think this could be one factor that is not helping the recruitment of teachers in Scotland, as some teachers have said to me they feel insulted to have to go back to being a probationer after being fully qualified for so long.”