The Scottish Education Minister, Brian Wilson, has instructed the General Teaching Council to draw up an explicit statement of the standards teachers must reach before becoming fully qualified.

All teachers in state schools in Scotland must be registered with the General Teaching Council. At present, they must satisfactorily complete two years of classroom probation before they are allowed to register - but there is no formal statement of the standards they must reach at the end of this period.

Ministers are worried that assessments of trainee teachers rely too much on the subjective judgements of headteachers, leading to inconsistent standards.

Mr Wilson said: "I have asked the General Teaching Council to develop a statement of the standards teachers must meet if they are to be granted full registration.

"This should give a clearer focus to probation and create greater consistency in the granting of full registration."

Mr Wilson has also issued a consultation paper on the development of teachers' skills once they are registered. Options include the introduction of advanced professional qualifications.

Attainment

Mr Wilson said he wanted to ensure a more coherent and structured approach to teachers' career development after their initial training.

"Our aim is to raise levels of attainment by pupils in Scottish schools," he said. "Better trained teachers offer the best prospect of raising standards of attainment in our schools.

"We believe the time is right to take teachers' professional development forward, to raise the status of teachers and offer a more coherent framework for their professional development."