The letter last week from Dawn Yip is from an individual involved in an application for exceptional admission to the register (EAR), which has recently been considered by the EAR committee of the General Teaching Council for Scotland.

Ms Yip has been given detailed reasons why she cannot be registered (her teaching qualification is below the required academic standard). Ms Yip’s teaching qualification is equivalent to SCQF level 8. Although we normally expect Scottish candidates to have attained SCQF level 10, we sometimes grant registration to experienced overseas candidates whose original qualification was at least equivalent to level 9. Clearly Ms Yip’s qualification does not meet either of these standards.

It is the very purpose of GTC Scotland to uphold high standards of teaching in Scotland’s schools and if any individual, whether from Scotland or elsewhere, does not meet these standards, then we cannot offer registration.

John Adams, exceptional admissions manager, GTC Scotland.