Coronavirus (Covid-19): advice on student placements

Joint statement from GTC Scotland and the Scottish Council of Deans of Education

16 March 2020

The following contingency plans have been agreed between the General Teaching Council for Scotland and the Scottish Council of Deans of Education.

These plans have been agreed in the context of Initial Teacher Education (ITE) providers moving to alternative methods of programme delivery. They are designed to provide clarity and consistency to students, and to reduce the burden on schools and teachers.

It has been agreed that all initial teacher education placements in schools will end as of today, Monday 16 March, and for the remainder of this academic session 2019-20.

This includes placements for all undergraduate and postgraduate students in all years of their ITE programmes.

PGDE, or Masters programmes students, will be assessed on professional practice undertaken to date, drawing on all available evidence. Those who are presented to GTC Scotland by their ITE provider will be able to progress into the Teacher Induction Scheme (TIS) or Flexible Route with Provisional Registration awarded by GTC Scotland.

Final-year undergraduate students who have satisfactorily completed professional practice undertaken to date and as confirmed by their ITE provider, will be able to progress into the TIS or Flexible Route with Provisional Registration awarded by GTC Scotland.

Where the ITE provider judges that the student would have satisfactorily completed the placement, the placement module will be credited. This means that the credits associated with the module will be awarded to the student teacher. Therefore, student teachers on a PGDE programme or in their final year of an undergraduate degree, will be eligible to graduate.

Each ITE provider will identify any students whose performance requires them at this stage to undertake a retrieval placement next session. ITE providers will inform those students of this decision as soon as possible.

GTC Scotland will introduce an early check for all probationers on TIS or the Flexible Route in September 2020 to ensure that they are making satisfactory progress towards achieving the Standard for Full Registration. Any probationers not showing sufficient progress as determined by the school and local authority may be awarded Provisional (Conditional) Registration at this time. GTC Scotland will support the relevant schools and local authorities to monitor the progress of any such probationers and ensure that the necessary remedial action is taken prior to them being awarded Full Registration.

Undergraduate students who are in years one to three of their course will not attend school placements for the remainder of academic session 2019-20. Provision will be made in partnership with GTC Scotland, ITE providers and local authorities for additional placement time in subsequent years on a programme by programme basis.

In those areas where students have been unable to complete an on campus, taught programme, ITE providers are committed to offering online teaching as a replacement.

Please note

Any queries from students about this statement should be directed to their ITE provider

Probationer profiles on MyGTCS will be adjusted accordingly

Please refer to the GTCS website and Twitter accounts for further updates

Additional advice on Covid-19 is provided by Scottish Government here

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