Relevant country background

Attendance at primary and secondary school in Scotland is compulsory for all children aged between the ages of 4-16. To start primary school in the August intake a child must have reached 4 on or before the 28 (or 29) February of the same year. Parents can defer entry to primary school for a year for children who are 4 years old between 31 December and 28 (or 29) February, at the discretion of the local authority. To start secondary school in the August intake, a child must usually have reached 11 on or before the 28 (or 29) February of the same year. General education policy is determined at a national level by the Scottish Government and is implemented at a local level by the Scottish local authorities (there are currently 32 of these). Admission to schools is devolved to local authorities.

This country profile is part of a collective effort by the network members to map matching practices across Europe. If you find it useful and want to refer to it in your own work, please refer to it as “Irving, Rob (2011), Matching practices for entry-labor markets – Scotland, MiP Country Profile 3.”

Relevant country background

Medical School graduates seeking to practice medicine in the UK must undertake two-years of a “foundation training programme”. For this purpose they are initially assigned to a “foundation school” by a national matching process overseen by the UK Foundation Programme Office (UKFPO). The country is subdivided, essentially on a regional basis, into 21 foundation schools, of which Scotland is the largest. Details of this national scheme are available here.

Once applicants have been assigned to foundation schools, it is up to each school to decide how to match applicants with available positions. In Scotland, this process is overseen by NHS Education for Scotland (http://www.nes.scot.nhs.uk/), using a matching scheme known as the Scottish Foundation Allocation Scheme (SFAS) – see [5].