What Highers Do I Need to Become a Teacher in Scotland?

Teaching is one of the most popular career routes in Scotland — and one of the few where the entry requirements are genuinely flexible. You don’t need straight As. You do need the right combination of qualifications, a clean PVG check, and a willingness to spend four years (or one intense postgraduate year) training for the job.

Two routes in

Primary teaching — the BEd

A Bachelor of Education (BEd) is a four-year undergraduate degree that qualifies you to teach in primary school (P1–P7). You apply through UCAS like any other degree.

Typical entry requirements:

• Higher English at B or above
• National 5 Maths (some universities want Higher Maths)
• 2–3 additional Highers at C or above
• A PVG scheme check
• Evidence of working with children (volunteering, coaching, youth groups)

Main providers: Dundee, Strathclyde, UWS, Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Stirling, UHI.

Offers are typically in the ABBB to BBBC range — significantly more accessible than medicine or law. What matters more than grades is the personal statement and interview, where universities look for genuine motivation and experience with children.

Secondary teaching — the degree + PGDE route

Secondary teachers need a degree in their teaching subject (or a closely related subject), followed by a one-year Professional Graduate Diploma in Education (PGDE).

The degree can be from any UK university. The PGDE is offered by most Scottish universities with education departments. The PGDE year combines university-based learning with school placements.

PGDE entry requirements:

• A degree at 2:2 or above in a relevant subject
• Higher English at C or above (if not covered by your degree)
• National 5 Maths
• PVG check

Subject shortage bursaries

Scotland has a teacher recruitment problem in certain subjects. If your child is considering teaching Maths, Physics, Computing Science, Chemistry, Technical Education or Gaelic, there are significant financial incentives:

• Bursaries of £6,000–20,000 during the PGDE year (on top of SAAS support)
• Faster employment — shortage subject graduates are virtually guaranteed a job
• Rural incentives — some councils offer relocation packages for hard-to-fill posts

The subject combinations that work

For primary teaching, any well-rounded set of Highers works — universities want breadth rather than depth. A mix of literacy, numeracy and one or two other subjects is typical.

For secondary teaching, the Highers need to lead to a degree in a teachable subject. The main teachable subjects in Scotland are: English, Maths, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Computing Science, History, Modern Studies, Geography, Art, Music, PE, Drama, French, Spanish, German, Gaelic, Business Management, Home Economics, and Technical Education.

GTCS registration

Every teacher in a Scottish state school must be registered with the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS). Registration requires a recognised teaching qualification — either a BEd or a PGDE from a GTCS-accredited programme. Once registered, you complete a one-year probation period (the Teacher Induction Scheme) before becoming fully registered.

Salary

Starting salary for a probationer teacher in Scotland is approximately £32,000 (2026). After full registration and progression through the pay scale, a classroom teacher can reach £42,000–44,000. Promoted posts (principal teacher, depute head, head teacher) go higher. Teaching is one of the better-paid graduate professions in Scotland relative to living costs, particularly outside Edinburgh.

Secondary subject Higher requirements at a glance

The Highers you need depend entirely on the subject you'll teach. Here are the requirements for the most common secondary subjects:

These are the degree entry requirements — not the PGDE requirements, which are simply a degree at 2:2 or above.

The Teacher Induction Scheme (probation year)

Graduating with a BEd or PGDE qualifies you for provisional registration with the GTCS. Full registration comes after completing the Teacher Induction Scheme (TIS) — Scotland's guaranteed one-year probationary placement.

The TIS guarantees every eligible newly qualified teacher a full-time, salaried probationary post for one year. Scotland is unusual in this: unlike England, where NQTs must find their own first post, Scottish graduates are guaranteed a placement. The salary during probation is approximately £32,000 (2026).

During TIS, you are supported by a Probationer Support Teacher in your school and by a Professional Review and Development process. At the end of the year, GTCS grants full registration — provided your support teacher confirms your professional competence.

A small number of probationers choose to defer TIS or complete it over two part-time years. This is possible but less common.

The reality of teacher workload

The headline salary and holidays make teaching look attractive. The workload makes some experienced teachers leave within five years. What the open days don't always tell you:

• A full secondary teacher typically marks 600–900 essays, reports or papers per year across their classes
• Planning, marking and reporting regularly extends the working day 2–3 hours beyond classroom time
• School management demands have increased — teachers are expected to contribute to improvement planning, data tracking and interdisciplinary working
• The emotional demands of supporting young people — particularly in schools serving deprived communities — are significant

This is not a reason to avoid teaching. It is a reason to enter it with clear eyes. The teachers who stay, and thrive, are those who knew what they were walking into.

What we’d tell a parent whose child is considering teaching

It’s a career that offers genuine job security, a defined pension, long holidays, and the satisfaction of watching children learn. It’s also exhausting, emotionally demanding, and increasingly complex. If your child enjoys working with young people and has a subject they’re passionate about, it’s one of the best graduate careers available in Scotland. If they’re choosing it because they can’t think of anything else — that’s not enough. Teaching requires commitment, and the training is intense.

The entry requirements are the easy part. The job is the hard part. But the rewards are real.