This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Teachers in Scotland 2006
27/03/2007
The latest data on teachers and support staff in publicly funded schools in Scotland, mainly derived from the annual staff census in September 2006, is published in a statistical bulletin today.
It shows:
- The total number of teachers based in primary, secondary and special schools was 51,658, which is 1,141 more than in 2005. However, these numbers are partly affected by local authorities increasingly recording visiting specialists in the schools in which they teach, rather than as centrally employed. This will also affect other analysis in this publication
- There were a further 1,160 recorded as centrally employed visiting specialist teachers involved in similar roles but not based in schools. This is a decrease of 292 from 2005 and of 445 from the 2003 figure, due to the changes in recording described above
- In January 2006 there were also an estimated 1,666 teachers in the pre-school sector. Hence overall there were 54,484 teachers in 2006, an increase of 867 teachers from 2005
- There were a further 22,300 school based staff and 2,160 centrally employed staff identified in the staff census as providing support to the education system. Some of this information was collected differently this year and so may not be fully comparable with previous years
Other main points are:
- There were 23,501 teachers in primary schools (22,873 in 2005), giving a pupil teacher ratio of 16.3 (17.1 in 2005). Ninety-two per cent of teachers were female, a reduction from 2005
- There were 26,083 teachers in secondary schools (25,613 in 2005), giving a pupil teacher ratio of 12.0 (12.3 in 2005). Fifty-nine per cent of teachers were female, the same as in 2005
- There were 2,075 teachers in special schools (2,031 in 2005), giving a pupil teacher ratio of 3.4 (3.5 in 2005). Eighty-one per cent of teachers were female, a reduction from 2005
- The average (mean) age of teachers fell slightly from 43.9 to 43.6. There was an increase in the proportion of teachers aged under 40 (35 per cent compared to 33 per cent in 2005) and in those aged 55 or over (18 per cent compared to 17 per cent in 2007). The age profile shows a major peak at age 53, and increasing numbers in the late twenties
- The proportion of teachers who were male has dropped from 30 per cent in 1996 to 25 per cent in 2006, stable with last year's figure. In promoted posts the proportion who were male was 36 per cent (down from 37 per cent in 2005), with the figure being 29 per cent for head teachers and deputes (down from 30 per cent in 2005)
- In primary schools there were 160 teachers whose main subject was physical education, 113 whose main subject was music and 76 whose main subject was art & design. There were 603 who gave learning support as their main subject, and 312 gave SEN related subjects
- In secondary schools, the largest numbers of teachers were in English (2,796) and maths (2,654), increases of seven per cent and six per cent respectively. Technical education was the subject with the highest proportion of male teachers (88 per cent), with home economics being nearly all female teachers. Music, drama and physical education teachers had the youngest average age, with additional support needs teachers being on average the oldest
- Where ethnic background data was given, 2.6 per cent of teachers were from non-UK, white backgrounds, and 1.1 per cent from other minority ethnic groups. In promoted posts the proportion was 1.6 per cent and 0.7 per cent respectively, though the minority ethnic group teachers have not, on average, been in the workforce for as long as white-UK teachers
- There were 131 teachers currently teaching Gaelic language (115 in 2005), 240 providing Gaelic medium education (207 in 2005), and 399 teachers reported being able to teach through the medium of Gaelic (379 in 2005)
- There were 3,549 teachers in the probation induction scheme (2,730 in 2005), of which 1,808 were in primary schools and 1,741 were in secondary schools
- There were 3,906 students who graduated from initial teacher training in 2006, a 37 per cent increase compared to 2,849 in 2005. In primary, the proportion graduating through PGCE/PGDE has increased from 31 per cent in 1998 to 71 per cent in 2006