Teacher - Primary School

Teach primary school children, help them enjoy learning and encourage them to be confident about their abilities.

About the job

Salary (before tax)

Entry

Experienced

£33,594

£50,589

Entry

£33,594

Experienced

£50,589

In this job, new workers in Scotland start around £33,594 per year. Experienced workers can earn up to £50,589.

Source:

EIS

Vacancy demand in Scotland

1873 unique job postings for Teacher - Primary School roles in Scotland. From March 2024 to March 2025.

Source: Based on vacancy data from Lightcast

A day in the life – Primary school teacher

What it's like

Imagine inspiring the next generation to learn and develop in primary school. You'd teach a wide range of subjects to your class. You might be putting pupils through their paces in gym class one day and testing their times tables the next.

You’d plan and deliver lessons across different areas of learning, including:

expressive arts
health and wellbeing
languages
mathematics
religious and moral education
sciences
social studies
technologies

Your main responsibility is to improve the knowledge and understanding of your pupils. Your lessons would follow the Scottish Government's Curriculum for Excellence (CfE). Although, you might have a different curriculum if you work in an independent school.

You’d encourage children to express themselves and play a positive role in school life. With your guidance, your pupils will feel confident and prepared so they can thrive at secondary school.

If you enjoy helping others and are passionate about learning you might be a future teacher!

Your tasks might include:

creating lessons and teaching materials
creating an environment that encourages learning, cooperation and good behaviour
evaluating progress in the curriculum and helping pupils assess their own work
adapting your teaching to support children struggling in class
considering additional support needs in lesson plans and the learning environment
discussing children's development and progress with parents and carers
helping pupils apply learning to different subjects and see how it fits in to the wider world
organising and supervising outings, clubs, social activities and sports events
attending meetings and training courses
working with other professionals, such as education psychologists and social workers

Hours

Full-time teachers work an average 37 hours a week, with typical class times starting between 8.30am and 9.15am and finishing around 3.15pm to 4pm. Teachers will spend more time outside of normal hours, planning lessons, marking work and also taking part in activities, such as parents' evenings and outings.Teachers normally work 39 weeks a year split over three school terms.

Environment

You will have your own classroom, although you may teach elsewhere in the school to cover staff shortages or specialist subjects. You would organise the classroom and learning resources and create displays to encourage a positive learning environment.