In some cases local authorities had extended the requirement to partner providers in the private and voluntary sectors as a condition which had to be fulfilled if the provision was to be eligible for public nursery education funding. However, this was not consistent across Scotland.
The Scottish Independent Nurseries' Association welcomed the Executive's decision to drop the requirement as a 'progressive step in making early years education and care mutually interdependent and integrated.'
The GTC's chief executive Matthew MacIver wrote to the Executive's education department last month warning that scrapping the 1956 Scotland Schools Code was 'a retrograde step' which 'devalued' pre-school education.
The code, which incorporates the requirement to have trained teachers in nursery classes on a 1:10 ratio with pupils, is due to be abolished in July.
He told Nursery World Scotland, 'In Scotland we have prided ourselves on the fact that we have had registered teachers right from pre-school to 18.
If you are devaluing nursery education to the extent of using non-registered teachers then you are making it something else.'
Patricia McGinty, a director of the Scottish Independent Nurseries Association who was involved in a working party that examined the issue, supported the Executive's decision.
She said a teacher should be 'a valued member of a staff team, with their distinctive training put to the best possible use' and added that effective early years services needed greater flexibility and versatility, 'engaging a wide range of staff with different backgrounds, qualifications and experience'.
However, Glasgow, the country's largest city council, said it intended to 'maintain the status quo'. A council spokeswoman said, 'There will be no changes in the light of the Executive's decision. We have teachers in nurseries and we do not envisage changing that.'