People applying for teaching jobs in London may think the process is the same all over the UK, but in Scotland it could be about to change.

A series of tests have been published that could see aspiring teachers quizzed on grammar and basic arithmetic. The papers are devised by Education Scotland in partnership with several universities and are a direct response to a report published in 2011 by the former chief inspector of education, which called for an improvement in teacher training. As they are already online, people can see if they are of the standard required.

The tests work alongside a separate grammar guide for serving teachers who are not fully confident about language nuances, but will still be secondary to traditional university assessments.   

People who are looking for a teaching role north of the border should know the extra tests are not mandatory, but Lindsay Paterson, a professor of education policy at Edinburgh University, believes they could be helpful as evidence shows many trainee teachers have "extremely poor" literacy and numeracy skills.

He told The Scotsman: "The key thing is that people are coming into teacher training who haven't picked up these skills anywhere else. If people with better basic skills were coming into the profession, that would solve the problem."

The original recommendation in the 2011 report said threshold for entry on a teacher training course should allow for some candidate weaknesses to be addressed by the student during their study, but outlined a "demanding level" was necessary as a "prerequisite for competence to teach".

If you are working towards applying for a teaching job, what do you think about the plans? Do you think they are demeaning and unnecessary considering the standard of education on your course, or would you welcome the chance to address any nagging doubts that you may have?