Moray Council is to take part in a pilot project designed to recruit teachers from the local military and wider community.

Run in partnership with the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS), it will help people work in schools who are teaching professionals but gained qualifications elsewhere.

The scheme will enable them to provisionally register with the GTCS and work while undergoing top-up training.

Like many other parts of rural Scotland, Moray struggles to recruit teachers and the pilot will enable it to attract qualified staff from its 3,000-strong service personnel and their families.

Cllr Anne Skene, chair of Moray Council’s education and young person’s committee, said: ‘This is a great opportunity for us to employ the teachers we know exist within our community. I commend the GTCS for this initiative.

‘We already have a very close working relationship with our military communities, and I can only see this as strengthening that bond.’

The pilot will be launched in the new year, subject to approval by GTCS Council members in December.

Kenneth Muir, GTCS chief executive, said: ‘We register over 350 teachers a year from England and many more from countries around the world but only if those teachers meet our registration standards.

‘We accept that we could offer more flexibility in how we register teachers and this is why we undertook the recent consultation. There are a number of proposals we will put to our council meeting in December for members’ approval which we think can offer more flexibility and better support local authorities like Moray.

‘We are pleased to have such a constructive working relationship with Moray Council and look forward to building upon this in the months ahead.’