STEM education in Scotland

It is well known that the Scottish and English Education systems are different. I am writing this one week before the Scottish Referendum – whatever the outcome, the Scottish Education system will maintain its distinctiveness. This paper will explore some of the differences between the two systems and examine whether or not they are significant in science teacher education and what the implications of these differences may be. One example of difference is that in Scotland, we refer to Initial Teacher Education (ITE) rather than Initial Teacher Training (ITT) in England. Whether or not this indicates a wider approach to teacher education in Scotland rather than teacher training in England is another question.