New specialist teacher role mooted in Scotland

New promoted posts in primary and secondary schools would bring more responsibility for developing subject specialisms or becoming experts in areas such as literacy or narrowing the attainment gap.

Government officials and unions are discussing the scheme, which would be loosely based on a model in Singapore where teachers can gain “chief specialist” status.

In Scotland, by contrast, teachers often reach the top of the pay scale after six years, raising concerns that the only path to promotion takes them out of the classroom and into management. This is seen as one of the factors hitting recruitment and retention.

John Swinney, the education secretary – whose SNP administration scrapped the chartered teacher system five years ago – outlined the potential advantages of the proposal in a keynote speech at the annual Scottish Learning Festival in Glasgow last week.