Teaching bursary helps Eilidh pursue teaching career
A former children’s nurse from Stornoway has been able to pursue her ideal career thanks to the Teaching Bursary in Scotland.
Eilidh Oliver worked as a children’s nurse across the UK and in New Zealand for six years, and then as a nursery teacher before deciding that she wanted to become a primary school teacher.
Eilidh said: “I really enjoy working with children, but I found my previous job quite stressful. I also wanted to use my Gaelic language skills in my job, so I looked into becoming a primary teacher with Gaelic.”
She added: “While researching on becoming a primary teacher in Scotland, I came across a link providing information on the teaching bursary. At first I was a bit overwhelmed with the application process and the information I needed to provide, but actually when it came down to it, it was quite simple. The person who was dealing with my application kept me right with what I needed to do.”
Opened to new applicants from May 2026 by Skills Development Scotland, the £12,500 bursary is available in the new academic year whilst studying for a PGDE in Maths, Computing Science, Technological Education, Physics, Chemistry, Home Economics, Gaelic and Modern Languages.
Eilidh was successful in her application for the bursary and for the last year has studied Gaelic Medium Primary Teaching at UHI Stornoway. The course was a mixture of on-campus learning, at-home learning and placements in school.
She said: “The course has been really good. I’ve felt a mixture of emotions throughout – sometimes thinking ‘oh I can’t do this’, to other days feeling fantastic and thinking ‘yes I can really do this’! There’s been a lot to learn in a short space of time.”
Eilidh has finished her course and is completing the final steps to get registered as a teacher.
She said: “I’ve signed up for the probationary year, and I’ve been allocated to the Western Islands Council. I’m really happy to be staying in my local authority area.
“If I’m teaching P1-P3 children, I’ll be teaching them entirely in Gaelic, and if teaching P4-P7 children, it’ll be primarily Gaelic with some English.”
Eilidh would encourage people considering studying for a PDGE in the relevant subjects to apply to the bursary.
She said: “Without the bursary I might not have been able to give up my job to do the teacher training. I might have had to wait a couple more years, whereas with the bursary I thought no, I can definitely go ahead and do this in the timeframe that I want to. Not having the bursary would have made it a lot more difficult.
“I would absolutely recommend other people to apply for the teaching bursary. I know other people who have gone through teacher training without it. It obviously adds an extra stress if you’re thinking about your budget as well as the learning and placements and other things – the bursary definitely helps.
Find out more
Get more information on the Teaching Bursary in Scotland and how to apply.