You know, the one big thing UFO is missing is the ability to teach a follower a spell mod. There's loads of great spell mods out there but no way of teaching a follower how to cast them. Is there some way to get around this barrier, like with another mod or by using the console?

If that's included in the mod yeah you probably may teach. If not i don't think you can

Well, far as I know ASIS runs a script that allows ALL NPCs the ability to learn and use any spell, even mod spells. I'm not sure if it plays well with UFO in regards to follower spells, but it is something I'd look at.