Teacher Education
Always dreamed of being a teacher? Gain the skills you need and the registration required to teach in Scotland on one of our Initial Teacher Education programmes.
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Initial teacher education programmes
Moray House School of Education and Sport has a proud tradition of teacher education, spanning nearly 200 years. Our strong reputation and future-oriented approach to teaching will help you to become a transformative teacher: a teacher with the potential to change the lives of children and young people for the better.
Postgraduate
Graduates interested in teaching may join the following programmes that range in length from 9 months to a 2 year Masters and qualify you to teach at Primary or Secondary level or across the transition.
Undergraduate
Our teacher education degrees are highly competitive and qualify you to teach in the UK.
Teacher Education students reflect on their experiences studying at Moray House.
Once you graduate from an initial teacher education programme, you will be qualified to teach, and eligible for provisional registration from the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS).
On completion of your programme, if you are from the UK or EU, you are eligible to join the Teacher Induction Scheme (TIS), a guaranteed and paid one-year probationary teaching post. Those who qualify may also join the Preference Waiver Payment Scheme - agreeing to work in any Scottish local authority for their probationary year - to receive an additional £6,000-£8,000. If successful, at the end of the Teacher Induction Scheme year, you become fully registered with the GTCS.
Scholarships and bursaries from the University as well as external and government bodies may be available for Initial Teacher Education, for example in teaching STEM subjects.
If you're changing career to teach or thinking about it, STEM Bursary Scotland would like to help. Applications are open for a £20,000 government bursary to ease the transition into teaching. For applicants starting in August 2020 the eligible subjects include chemistry, computing science, mathematics, physics, and technical education. Find out if you are eligible and apply on their website.
Teachers today are faced with a range of mental health needs in the classroom, and yet they receive very little training in this area, or support to cope with the emotional impact that the role may have on them. A unique strategic partnership between Moray House School of Education and Sport and children’s mental health charity, Place2Be, provides a unique resource to student teachers at Edinburgh. The approach is informed by Place2Be’s 25 years’ experience supporting the wellbeing of pupils, families and school staff in schools.
Building on a successful two-year pilot – this partnership will continue to increase knowledge, understanding and skills around children’s mental health for student teachers and the initial teacher education programmes across Moray House as a whole. As a core element of the partnership, our dedicated Place2Be clinician will provide direct support for student teachers, via a reflective space known as ‘Place2Think’. These sessions aim to build emotional resilience and to promote the need for teacher self-care.
Through this unique partnership, we hope to equip teachers with the skills they need for a rewarding career and to produce mentally healthy classrooms benefitting everyone’s mental health.
Career-Long Professional Learning for Teachers
The Scottish Government aspires to develop teacher education as a single continuum from the Initial Teacher Education stage throughout a teacher’s entire career. With this in mind, we provide a number of programmes of study for practising teachers to specialise and progress within the field.
Specialist degree courses for teachers
PgCertificate Core Processes for Leadership and Learning
PgCertificate Middle Leadership and Management
PgCertificate Into Headship (with Standard for Headship)
PgDiploma Inclusive Education (deaf learners)
PgDiploma Inclusive Education (visually impaired learners)
Short courses, seminars and conferences
Professional development and learning courses, seminars and conferences to support your Career-Long Professional Learning journey.