A warm Highland welcome for probationer teachers

16th August 2021

The new cohort of probationer teachers were welcomed to the Highlands (on Friday 13 August 2021) at an online Induction Event.

The probationer teachers' Induction Event is the first of a wide range of professional learning events which run across the year, to support the needs of beginning teachers and their ongoing professional learning.

Nicky Grant, Executive Chief Officer, Education & Learning welcomed the probationers saying: "This has been an exciting week for all in Education across the Highland Council, starting with the outstanding improvements in our exam results across all key measures and culminating in us welcoming our new probationers to their school communities.

"I will be following each of their careers with interest and hope to visit many of them in their school settings as the year progresses. Our probationers will play a key role in the recovery of learning and teaching and the identification of our new attainment gap. This will be a vital part of their learning experience within our schools and I very much look forward to sharing their successes with them over the next year."

John Finlayson, Councillor Eilean a' Cheo Ward, Chair of Education Committee added: "This is an exciting day for all of our new probationers, and it is also an exciting day for the Highland Council as we welcome new teachers into our authority. Each and every one will be an asset to our Highland communities, and to the schools, children and families they will be working with over the next year.

"I am confident that they will enjoy working in their new schools, and I hope that they take advantage of the unique opportunities that await them, and they choose to continue working in the Highlands for many years to come."

Our newly qualified teachers start working in schools across the Highlands on Monday 16 August 2021.

These beginning teachers will play a key role in supporting our children and young people as they return to schools and we know they will commit fully to building positive relationships with their learners, providing relevant, engaging and exciting learning experiences while at the same time supporting their mental health and wellbeing.

We have 91 Teacher Induction Scheme (TIS) probationers starting in August this year - 29 secondary and 62 primary. We will also have a number of Flexible Route probationers starting in Term 1 and a number of these attending the Induction Event. There will be a number of student teachers on an extension placement (5) from August-October (which will allow them to have the required minimum number of placement weeks for their Initial Teacher Education Programme) who also joined our induction event - these students, on completion of a successful extension placement, will then continue with us as probationer teachers from October onwards.

Our 62 TIS primary probationers have been allocated to our educational areas as follows - 14 North, 15 Mid, 23 South and 10 West. The 29 TIS secondary probationers have been allocated to our educational areas as follows: 5 North, 6 Mid, 16 South and 2 West. Our 1 Flexible Route probationer who attended the Induction Event is located in the Mid.

The 29 TIS secondary school probationers will be working in the following subjects areas: Art and Design (4), Biology (2), Business Education (4); English (2), French (2); French/German (1); Geography (2), History/Modern Studies (2); Physical Education (5), Physics (1); Religious Education (1) and Technological Education (3).

We have 11 preference waivers in Secondary and 20 in Primary. These probationers will be relocating to the Highlands from different parts of Scotland and we wish them all the very best as the integrate with their new community; build new friendships and enjoy all that is positive about living in the Highlands. All our other TIS probationers are ‘locals’ and will bring much to the learning experiences of children and young people in their known home context.