I completed my PGCE in Northern Ireland and, on my return home in the summer, found that I was ineligible for this new scheme which offers a reduced probation time, a fantastic support and mentoring service, a plethora of training and 0.7 class contact time. Although my school has been very supportive, it is not obliged to give me any time out of class at all. I have taken on board the fact that I am not eligible for this due to my qualification having been obtained outside Scotland but it is unfair.

My grievance lies with the revised system for employment. According to the General Teaching Council for Scotland and Glasgow City Council, probationers are no longer allowed to apply for permanent teaching positions until they are fully registered.

For myself, and others in my position, this means waiting until after Christmas 2003 (provided that I have been able to find supply work), while probationers under the new programme can apply for the start of the new session in August 2003.

By June next year I will have worked a full year with my class, 100 per cent contact time, with little support and no training. It is a possibility that the teacher I am replacing will not return and that the job will be made a permanent post. Should this be the case, under the new system I will not be allowed to apply and will have to seek further supply work while my colleagues in the current induction programme can apply.

Yet if I were to go back to work in Northern Ireland, I would be eligible to apply for permanent teaching posts, and for their excellent induction program. This would also be the case if were to teach in England. I am now suffering injustice from the Scottish Government simply because I decided to return to where I was born.

Diana Firth

Temporary teacher and probationer

Alexandra Parade Primary

Glasgow