Statutory Functions and Initiatives

GTCS carries out a wide range of statutory functions and initiatives to promote, support and develop the professional learning of teachers. Our functions include:

Statutory Functions

• Maintaining a register of teachers in Scotland
• Setting the Professional Standards expected of all teachers
• Accrediting programmes leading to the award of GTCS Standards, including Initial Teacher Education programmes at Scottish universities
• Advising the Scottish Government on matters relating to Scotland’s teachers and teacher professionalism
• Providing public protection and assuring the high quality of the teaching profession by investigating and adjudicating on the Fitness to Teach of registrants through robust and fair regulation processes

Initiatives

• Supporting the successful operation of the Teacher Induction Scheme which provides a guaranteed one-year full-time probationer post to every eligible student graduating with a teaching qualification from one of Scotland's universities
• Managing and signing off teachers’ Professional Update which confirms that they have engaged in ongoing professional learning and reflected against the appropriate GTCS Professional Standards
• Providing a dedicated MyGTCS online account to all registrants, enabling them to log their professional learning and access a range of support tools
• As part of MyGTCS, developing MyPL - a national e-portfolio for all teachers to support and develop their professional learning
• Operating and promoting the Professional Recognition initiative which supports teachers’ expertise and experience and which accredits professional learning
• Administering the Student Placement System which is used by universities, local authorities and schools to place student teachers in schools
• Publishing Teaching Scotland magazine, which issues five times a year to everyone on the teaching register
• Celebrating, promoting and encouraging professionalism and professional learning communities and organisations through our
• Promoting and supporting the profession through a range of seminars, webinars, conferences, and research

We work hard to strike the appropriate balance between our role as a regulator of the teaching profession and our work to develop the professional learning of teachers; we believe that these roles complement one another and are in the long-term interests of our children and young people.

Values

At GTCS we have a shared set of values that speak for who we are, how we work and how we want to be seen as a national educational organisation. Our values were chosen by GTCS Council members and staff. We agreed that incorporating these values in our day-to-day work would contribute to making GTCS a modern and effective organisation that is a positive influence on education in Scotland. Our values are:

• Fairness
• Integrity
• Trust and Respect
• Professionalism
• Sustainability

We respect these values in our day-to-day work and in our interaction with one another and stakeholders. We endeavour to:

• Have fairness at the heart of everything we do
• Act with integrity in all of our work
• Have trust and respect for each other and our stakeholders
• Act professionally at all times
• Encourage sustainable practices in our work