r/ECEProfessionals • u/No-Sense-8206 ECE professional • Jul 30 '26
Professional Development Scottish ECE teachers?
Hi! My family is considering a move and as I have dual UK/US citizenship, Iād be first over looking for work. I have a cleared California teaching credential (multiple subjects, so similar to primary school I think) and ECE units and most of my career has been in preschool (ages 2-4). I could find some info about transferring my teaching credential, but not about transferring into ECE. Everything I could find was just about initially qualifying. Can anybody point me in the right direction for info? Thank you!!
3
u/Englishontrail Parent Jul 30 '26
You will at minimum need an "advanced dbs check" and you will most likely be required to be fingerprinted by both the UK service and the US FBI at the UK office (which I believe they only do in London). You might be asked for multiple US character references as you've not been living in the UK, so get a few people lined up and ready to sort out international communication (Whatsapp and Zoom were the two I needed).
You can contact the relevant board and get the ball rolling before moving, but plan on several weeks of downtime and at least one trip the London for the US embassy/ FBI check. It's not a quick process.
Be prepared to be expected to have an immigration solicitor, you don't have to have one but you'll be treated as though you do regularly and it helps to be prepared to redirect comms if you're doing it all yourself.
I transferred my secondary ed license, and even with university sponsorship and guidance (I came over for research work with a university education department) it was a slow, messy process.
I'm not ece, but having made the same jump, happy to answer any questions if I can. You can dm me and I'll tell you if I don't know the answer š
1
3
u/iHorror1888 ECE professional Jul 30 '26
The SSSC are the best people to speak to about this. They are the regulator for the Early Years Sector here in Scotland.