Moray House School of Education and Sport

Returning to teaching course

This is an online course aimed at teachers who have been out of the profession for a while or have graduated abroad and would like to get back into a teaching job in Scotland.

Children with their hands up

Moray House School of Education and Sport, in partnership with our six partner authorities (City of Edinburgh Council, East Lothian, Fife, Midlothian, Scottish Borders and West Lothian) is offering this online Returning to Teaching course for primary and secondary teachers. 

The course is designed for professionals who have a teaching qualification but have had a career break or are new to the Scottish Education system.

We strongly recommend that your visit our FAQ page where you can find further information regarding the course.

FAQ page

It is a requirement that you be eligible for registration with the GTCS (General Teaching Council for Scotland). If you are not already registered, please contact the GTCS via their website or phone 0131 314 6000.

General Teaching Council for Scotland website

The course will be most relevant for:

  • Those wishing to return to teaching in Scotland after a period away from the profession
  • Those wishing to teach in Scotland for the first time from both Primary and Secondary sectors
  • Those who wish to engage with the course to support a Professional Update submission to the GTCS
  • Teachers in the independent sector to support a potential GTCS registration application.

Course aims

  • Understand and engage with current National Education Policy and the Professional Teaching Standards in Scotland, providing teachers with information on recent changes in national priorities
  • Work collaboratively to develop an awareness of professional identity and teacher professionalism, discovering yourself as a learner and as a practitioner committed to career-long professional learning
  • Develop a critical awareness of your own values, beliefs and practices and how these align with the Professional Standards and current educational policy in Scotland
  • Consider and engage with key areas of social justice and equality in the classroom and develop thinking and strategies for a socially just classroom
  • Understand key legal and policy requirements relating to inclusive policies and strategies in school to address barriers to learning
  • To advise on current curriculum guidelines and their implications for professional practice
  • To increase confidence in completing applications and preparing for interview.

Course delivery

This course will be running 23 February to 10 May.

This 10-week course is run fully online.

The two live online sessions are not compulsory and the content from these sessions is available on Moodle,  our online learning platform. 

Please see below for an indication of the topics included in the course starting in February 2024. Each new week starts on a Friday.

Please note, there are no  scheduled sessions. Once a week opens, participants have access to its content for the duration of the course and can choose to study at times that suits them.

Week 0 (online)

From Friday 23  February

Introduction to Returning to Teaching (RTT) and the landscape of education in Scotland

Week 1 (online)

From Friday 01 March

Professional Values, Professional Standards, Learning for Sustainability, The National Attainment Challenge

Week 2 (online)

From Friday 08 March

Introduction to the Scottish Curriculum for Excellence: principles, design and purpose

Week 3 (online)

From Friday 15 March

Curriculum for Excellence / Curriculum for Excellence in Practice / Critical literacy in the classroom

Week 4 (online)

From Friday 22 March

Curriculum for Excellence  / The planning process

Catch-up week

From Friday 29 March

Time to catch up on readings or engage in additional readings on the subject of your choice or even take a break.

 Week 5 (online)

From Friday 05 April

Getting it right for every child (GIRFEC), Child Protection, Mentally Healthy School

Week 6 (online)

From Friday 12 April

Equality and diversity

Week 7 (online)

From Friday 19 April

Inclusive pedagogies / Additional support needs (ASN), policies and practice

Week 8 (online)

From Friday 26 April

Positive relationship and restorative approaches

Week 9 (online)

From Friday 03 May

Assessment, careers and qualifications

Week 10 (online)

From Friday 10 May

Digital literacy, professional learning and job applications

 

You can find further information about the course by visiting our FAQ page

Booking information

The  course fee is currently under review.

Booking for this course is now closed.

For any  enquiries please contact the Professional Learning team:

professionallearning@ed.ac.uk

Booking Terms

The course fee is non-refundable. The Professional Learning Office operates a cancellation policy to ensure that delegates are not disadvantaged by the last-minute cancellation of courses due to withdrawals making the course unviable. 

We will use your personal data to allow us to process your registration, communicate with you and obtain your feedback about this course. We are processing the information about you for these purposes because by registering for the course you give your consent for us to do so.

In order to facilitate online bookings for our events, we use Epay.

Details of Epay’s privacy policy

We will not share information about you with any other third party.

We will hold the personal data you provided us for 12 months after course completion. If you have agreed to be contacted about future events, we will hold your personal data for as long as you subscribe to these updates. Financial data such as a payment record will be held for 7 years. We do not use profiling or automated decision-making processes.

Read our full privacy notice

Quotations from previous participants

It has highlighted and given me a clearer understanding of current issues in the Scottish education system.  I have gained a wealth of knowledge and a supportive group of colleagues to work  collaboratively with in the future.

Course participant, 2021

The course has given me much more confidence than I previously had. I feel secure in my knowledge of current policies and practices.

Course participants, 2020

The course was well lead, very supportive and manageable despite working full time and having a family. I wholeheartedly recommend anyone considering a return to teaching to complete this course (actually I think it should be compulsory).

Course participant, 2020

I thoroughly enjoyed the course and feel motivated and enthusiastic about returning to teaching. The clips and presentations were excellent, and extremely helpful.

Course Participant, 2019

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