Teacher numbers reduce by 1,000

Cosla said councils were having to make "unenviable" choices Read Brian Taylor's blog

The number of teachers in Scotland's publicly-funded schools has fallen by almost 1,000, new government-published figures have revealed.

The number working at pre-school, primary, secondary and special schools, or visiting specialists in 2008 was 53,584 - 975 fewer than in 2007.

But falling pupil numbers meant the child-to-teacher ratio remained steady, at 13:1.

Opposition parties called for Education Secretary Fiona Hyslop to be sacked.

The Scottish Government said four local authorities - Glasgow, North Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire and Aberdeen - were responsible for more than half the fall, and action would be taken to tackle the issue.

Council umbrella group Cosla cast doubt over the accuracy of the figures, and called for further clarification before policy decisions were taken.

Under Fiona Hyslop's watch, Scotland's schools have been haemorrhaging teachers Rhona Brankin Labour education spokeswoman

Ms Hyslop said ensuring there were enough teachers in the system was a priority.

She added: "These figures demonstrate that, for the second year in a row, teacher numbers are delivering a historic low pupil-teacher ratio in Scotland - in both primary and secondary schools.

"Scottish pupil-teacher ratios are by far the lowest in the UK, and primary class sizes are also at a record low in Scotland.

"The number of teachers in both primary and secondary schools were also higher than in all but one year of the previous administration, in 2006."

According to the research, most of which took place in September 2008, the number of secondary teachers fell from 26,251 in 2007 to 25,767 last year, while primary teachers were down by 381 to 23,173 over the same period.

Ronnie Smith, general secretary of Scotland's largest teaching union, the EIS, said the number of teachers working in schools was now at its lowest level since 2004.

"Pupil to teacher ratios remain unchanged, which highlights that the Scottish Government's strategy of simply relying on falling pupil numbers and holding teacher numbers in order to lower class sizes is just not working," he said.

Labour's Rhona Brankin said "the bell had rung" for the education secretary, and it was time for her to go.

"It is disgraceful that in the past 12 months, under Fiona Hyslop's watch, Scotland's schools have been haemorrhaging teachers," said Ms Brankin.

"When Labour was in power, we prioritised education and put 2,000 more teachers in classrooms, but the SNP have wiped out half this progress in only one year."

Margaret Smith, the Lib Dem education spokesman, added: "It's time for a fresh minister - not fresh excuses.

"The education secretary was quick to take the credit for extra teachers when she took office. The question now is - will she be as quick to take the fall for the plummeting number of teachers in Scotland's schools?"

Conservative education spokeswoman Liz Smith, said: "The issue of teacher numbers is hugely important to the future of schools in Scotland and these figures will be a very painful message to the thousands of newly-qualified teachers who have already found it very difficult to find jobs.

"This comes at a time when we have seen tremendous improvements in the teacher training programme and when we have some of the best probationers anywhere in the world."

'Substantial adjustments'

Cosla education spokeswoman Isabel Hutton said councils were having to make "unenviable" choices, due to budgetary pressure outside their control.

She added: "I think it would be wrong to draw any immediate conclusions, or criticisms from the headline figures.

"It is clear from our discussions with member councils that the figures may not be as robust as we would expect.

"We know that, in the last few days, substantial adjustments had to be made to the figures for two councils - these represented a swing of 300 from just two council areas. Therefore I think that we need to clarify the figures before we engage in a policy discussion."

Glasgow City Council executive member for education, Jonathan Findlay, said the figures should be taken in context, adding: "The number of pupils in Glasgow schools continues to fall every year by approximately 1000, therefore, any drop in teacher numbers will reflect this trend. We staff our schools in terms of the resources that are required.

"Glasgow has the largest number of pupils in Scotland at just over 66,000 and therefore we have by far and away the highest number of teachers of all the local authorities in Scotland."

The figures also showed a slight rise in special school teachers, from 2,021 to 2,033, while the average teaching age remained stable, at about 43.

E-mail this to a friend

Printable version