Scottish Schooling
The key date for researching schooling in Scotland is 1872. Before this schools were run by churches, charities and burghs. It is possible to find information about schoolteachers prior to 1872 in the records of the bodies which ran the school, but this can be time-consuming. From 1873 onwards the principal source of information about teachers' careers is the school log book, kept by the headteachers of each school. In most areas of Scotland school log books are still in the hands of the schools themselves. In the 1980s and 1990s some local authority archives attempted to preserve school records for their areas by systematically approaching schools to ask for the transfer of school records to archives. Where a school log book is held by a local authority archive, it is normally subject to a closure rule of 50 years, except with the permission of the Head Teacher of the school.

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The text above is a summary of longer articles on education and education records in the SCAN Knowledge Base. You can read these by clicking on 'Education', 'School Log Books'.

The Knowledge Base also contains answers to Frequently Asked Questions. Click on one of these for an answer compiled by Scotland's archivists, or click on the Knowledge Base for a wider selection.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. How do I find log books and other records for a school in Scotland?

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