Search is launched for teachers in Northern Ireland

West Lothian Council, one of the top Scottish local authorities, has launched a search for teachers in Northern Ireland.

West Lothian is approximately 30 minutes drive from Edinburgh Airport, and is situated to the west of Edinburgh and around 25 miles from Glasgow. With Edinburgh Airport just a short drive away and a 50-minute flight to Belfast, West Lothian is very accessible. West Lothian is a great place to live and work and is currently Scotland’s enterprise capital.

West Lothian Council’s director of education and cultural services, Kate Reid said: “We feel that teachers in Northern Ireland will be interested in what we have to offer. West Lothian is a great place to live and work, and we have developed a first class benefits package for new teachers. Our schools are modern and friendly and we provide development opportunities for all our employees.”

During the last four years the council has spent £54 million in refurbishing and extending schools through a Public, Private Partnership (PPP) initiative. And over the next three years a further £84 million will be invested in five secondary schools.

“West Lothian demonstrated its commitment to providing a high quality education services as a means of improving the future prospects of its children and young people. Through its clear vision for the further development of a learning community, it showed its determination to raise standards of attainment and achievement, improve learning and teaching, promote equality and inclusion and encourage young people to be creative, enterprising and ambitious.” Her Majesty’s Inspectors of Education (HMIE) September 2004.

“We have a range of teaching opportunities in our secondary and primary schools and we would like to hear from enthusiastic people who share our vision of excellence,” added Kate Reid.

On offer to teachers from Northern Ireland are: Relocation expenses; an attractive benefits package; high quality modern schools; consistently positive HMI reports; development opportunities and support; and full, part-time and temporary vacancies.

A full list of current teaching vacancies is also available on: www.westlothian.gov.uk and click on ‘find a job’.

West Lothian Schools

West Lothian is one of the fastest growing areas in Scotland, and one of the few areas where new schools are being built.

We are around half way through an eight-year refurbishment and extension programme to primary and secondary schools - an overall investment of more than £120 million. With this expansion and modernisation programme there are great opportunities for teachers in the area.

We are committed to attainment and achievement for both our employees and pupils. Succeeding Together, a major strategic initiative within Education Services, aims to increase individual employee and school capability to significantly raise the levels of pupil achievement in relation to education’s national priority. West Lothian Council will offer you excellent support, development, training and progression opportunities, and you will be part of a great team. An attractive benefits package is also available.

I believe that you will find West Lothian an excellent place to develop your career as a teacher. There’s lots of variety in our education system and plenty of opportunities to gain new experiences and promotion. We look forward to hearing from you.
Kate Reid
Director of Education and Cultural Services

Location

Within easy reach of the cities of Edinburgh and Glasgow, close to Edinburgh airport and astride the M8 and M9 motorways,West Lothian offers one of the most central and accessible locations in Scotland.

The region, which is home to over 160,000 people, boasts the fastest growing economy and one of the best standards of living in Scotland.The area is comprised of an interesting mixture of towns and villages each with its own distinctive character, from the major shopping centres of Livingston to the quieter towns and villages such as Bathgate,Whitburn and
Broxburn, and Linlithgow with its unique mix of culture and history.

The property market has been booming across the region, and new quality housing is being built across the district complementing older traditional housing in West Lothian’s many towns and villages and peaceful rural areas.

West Lothian is a fascinating area to explore and the district offers a huge range of activities and attractions no matter what your interest. Livingston also boasts some of the best shopping in central Scotland – from the designer outlet shopping mall, MacArthur Glen, to extensive retail parks, and the Almondvale Shopping Centre which is packed with over one hundred high street stores.

Add to this the wealth of country pursuits – from flyfishing and golfing to canoeing and pony trekking and the two large country parks - West Lothian is a great place to live and work.

Succeeding together through Continuous Professional Development (CPD)

Your future development is important to West Lothian Council. CPD incorporates a wide range of opportunities, formal or informal, course based or work based activities which promote learning and improve professional practice.

Key aims of the CPD strategy are:

• A commitment to extending professionalism
• An emphasis on work based learning
• Promoting learning as a social process
• An academic approach
• Knowledge creation and dissemination through action inquiry and communities of practice
• The creation of a shared understanding of the teacher/learning process
• Ensure an impact on practice

The CPD strategy builds on initiatives such as the Professional Enquiry MSc course at Stirling University and the in-house Certificate in Positive Learning have been designed to develop teachers’ use of evidence to identify significant areas for improvement in the classroom.

Becoming a teacher in Scotland

Registration with the General Teaching Council (GTC) for Scotland is a requirement for teaching in all local authority nursery, primary, secondary and special schools in Scotland.

Registration is a mark of professional recognition as a teacher and ensures that standards of entry to the profession are maintained.

Depending on your teaching qualification, you will be registered as eligible to teach in primary, secondary or further education. More about information about registration is available on the GTC website: www.gtcs.org.uk.

Support and benefits for new teachers

West Lothian Council is active in its support of newly qualified teachers at both school and local authority level.

In schools, there are designated members of staff with a responsibility for the support of new staff. There is also a fulltime Probation Support Officer (contact details provided) whose role is to help ensure that newly qualified teachers experience the best possible start to their careers.

We also provide a programme of courses aimed at providing support to probationers if required.

Examples of short-courses provided are:

• Dyslexia in the Secondary School
• Classroom management for primary probationers
• Interview skills for primary probationers.

West Lothian Council also offers new teachers a Relocation Assistance Scheme, which includes: help with removal costs, house purchase and sale costs, and an additional weekly lodging/settling in allowance

Teachers are provided with laptops and assistance in finding accommodation through a local letting company.

At the end of session 2003-2004, 19 secondary and 25 primary teachers who had completed the probationary period were offered permanent contracts. For session 2005-2006 we welcome applications from all primary and secondary graduates

www.westlothian.gov.uk