Living and Working in East Lothian

East Lothian is located in the South East of Scotland, neighbouring the capital city of Edinburgh.

With over 40 miles of stunning coastline, golden beaches, rolling countryside, award-winning attractions, excellent food & drink and the world’s finest links golf courses, East Lothian has the best of Scotland.

The award winning coastline stretches along the southern edge of the Firth of Forth to the boundaries of the Scottish Borders.  Getting here couldn’t be easier: good access to trains; close to major road networks; and easy access to national and international flights.

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East Lothian is a great place to have an adventure, try something new, hone your skills or just take some time for yourself.

There's nothing like the great outdoors and East Lothian has plenty of unspoilt spaces where you can enjoy nature and outdoor activities.   Whether you are looking for thrills and spills or to slow down and appreciate your surroundings – you'll be sure to find your perfect outdoor activity here.

Extensive coast, rolling countryside, and quiet back roads are ideal for biking, walking, horse riding and nature spotting.

• ENABLING and encouraging everyone we work with to be able to achieve their full potential

• LEADING by example and taking responsibility to improve ourselves and our services

• CARING for each other, our community and the work that we do

Valuing our people

We value individuality - with an open and inclusive working culture where everyone feels comfortable to be themselves.

We focus on maintaining an inclusive and collaborative work environment where we respect people’s differences.

We’re committed to engaging, enabling and energising our people by creating opportunities for all, helping them to realise their full potential, supporting wellbeing and rewarding high performance. 

Across East Lothian we are ambitious for our children and young people. Working together, we will support them to be confident, resilient and to achieve within their schools and wider communities.  During 2019, Education and Children’s Services came together as one integrated service.  We are now working together to ensure everything we do starts with the child and family and builds the right support and services around them.  We currently have 34 primary schools and 7 secondary.

Working together, we:

• Share common values, approaches, behaviour and a strong commitment to do the very best for East Lothian’s children and young people

• Are ambitious for our children and young people

• Promote and prioritise early intervention and prevention

• Take a relationship-based approach with each other, our children, young people and their families promote creativity and innovation

• Want East Lothian to be an inclusive place to live and learn

2,350 children accessing 1140 hours of early learning and childcare

8,609 pupils in East Lothian Council’s 34 primary schools

6,421 pupils in 7 secondary schools

You’ll be in a small local authority where the team will get to know and will nurture each and every one of you

•       you’ll have a fantastic Head Teacher who will be totally committed to your development

•       you’ll have a supportive mentor who will guide you through the year, through the good times and the more challenging

•       you’ll have an inspiring professional learning programme because as teachers we need to be the lead learners

•       you’ll be teaching fantastic learners who deserve the best experiences and support

We have an excellent Teacher Induction Scheme and the probationer experience in East Lothian is very highly regarded.  We currently have 58 probationers for session 2023/24.  A structured and intensive suite of professional learning throughout the year as you work towards the GTCS Standard for Full Registration.  Probationer teachers attend ‘core’ sessions enabling you to network with fellow probationer teachers across East Lothian.  These sessions cover a range of subjects from Outdoor Learning to Nurture.  We have adopted a hybrid approach to Professional Learning and you will attend a mixture of online and in person sessions throughout the year.  In addition, there are numerous supplementary courses and experiences for you to take advantage of to meet your development needs.