More teachers would mean smaller class sizes

Numbers registered with the General Teaching Council in Scotland are up 40% to almost 1,000.

Education Minister Peter Peacock said staff were being attracted by the reputation of Scottish education and by the rewards on offer.

After a year teachers in Scotland are on a wage of �23,000 and can earn up to �37,000 without going for promotion.

Many of the new recruits are in the key subjects of maths, English and PE, posts which schools often struggle to fill.

The news follows a Labour Party election pledge to cut class sizes in Scotland by increasing the number of teachers to 53,000 by 2007.

Many universities still have unfilled places for secondary school training, but an advertising campaign for qualified staff seems to be paying off with more and more teachers joining the register.

Late last year experts expressed concern that Scotland could be hit by a teacher shortage crisis due to an ageing workforce.

The Scottish Secondary Teachers' Association said age-related illness among older teachers could give rise to a surge in demand for supply teachers.