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BACKGROUND NOTES
1. The information in this publication for 2008 is derived from the 22 nd September 2008 staff census of all publicly funded primary, secondary and special schools. Information about centrally employed staff was also collected from local authorities.
2. Information relating to pre-school teachers was collected from providers as part of the pre-school census in January 2008.
3. This is the sixth full annual staff census. Comparison of figures from these full censuses with data prior to 2003 may therefore be affected by the change in collection method.
Coverage
4. The staff census covers all publicly funded schools in Scotland (local authority and grant-aided). Where a school has more than one department, for example a secondary school with a primary department, these are counted as separate schools. The census of independent schools is published separately, and from Tuesday 21 st April will be available from the Scottish Government website. http://www.scotland.gov.uk/schoolstats
5. Results of the pupil census, also taken on 22 nd September 2008, were published in "Pupils in Scotland, 2008", which is available on the Scottish Government website at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/bulletins/00717
6. Results of the pre-school and childcare census, taken during the week starting on 21 st January 2008, were published in "Pre-School and Childcare Statistics 2008", which is available on the Scottish Government website at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2008/09/12150803/0
Census consultation
7. The content of the Teacher Census is considered in consultation with local authorities. The Scottish Government operates in the light of National Statistics guidelines, which restrict data collection to only the information that is required, at a level which is fit for purpose, whilst always trying to minimise the burden on data providers. Recommendations for changes to the census are made through the Scottish Exchange of Educational Data (ScotXed) network.
Collection methods
8. The information required to complete the September 2008 staff census was collected electronically, through local authorities, from all publicly funded primary, secondary and special schools, as part of the ScotXed programme. The information is generally that stored on schools' management information systems, thus reducing the burden on schools.
9. ScotXed supports and promotes effective and secure data exchanges so that key partners in school education in Scotland can benefit from access to information to monitor and improve education services. Partners include: Local authorities, schools, the Scottish Qualifications Authority, HM Inspectorate of Education, Learning and Teaching Scotland and Scottish Government Education Analytical Services Directorate. Further information, including specifications of the data exchanges, can be found at www.scotxed.net.
Definitions and Data quality
10. Tables in this publication cover publicly funded schools only, i.e. local authority and grant-aided schools.
11. Unless clearly stated as headcount, figures are always full-time equivalents. Where a teacher works in more than one school, this is counted as one person in the headcount. In years prior to 2003 the teacher would have been counted once from each school.
12. Due to the change in method of collection from 2003 onwards, and the various difficulties experienced with the first electronic census in 2003, caution must be taken in making comparisons with previous years. We have revised some figures for previous years which therefore differ from those published at the time 1.
13. Figures in this publication are reported on a different basis to those in the quarterly Public Sector Employment in Scotland publication. In particular, figures here do not count both those who are on sick leave, parental leave or some secondments and their replacement, but try to show the number of teachers working at a given time. The methodology in Public Sector Employment in Scotland is therefore more useful for considering payroll implications.
14. Figures for the special school sector are compiled from special schools only, and do not include teachers of special classes in mainstream schools. There may be inconsistency between schools and between local authorities in the reporting of special schools and special classes, as well as changes between years. We therefore advise caution when comparing results with previous years and across local authorities.
A few authorities do not have special schools, and may fund places in neighbouring authorities for their pupils. Special schools data include those where there were no pupils based, but which received pupils based in other schools.
15. At September 2008 there was one grant-aided mainstream school, with primary and secondary departments, and seven grant-aided special schools. These schools are included in national totals, but are identified separately in the local authority level tables. In years prior to 2003 they were included within the local authority of their location.
16. While 495 teachers in the census reported being chartered teachers, data from the General Teaching Council showed that by September 2008 735 teachers had gained chartered teacher status. It is therefore assumed that the other teachers have since been promoted or left the workforce.
17. The Teacher Induction Scheme, for newly qualified probationer teachers, was introduced in 2002. Probationers on the scheme have 70 per cent of the normal class contact time without this affecting their full time equivalence. Probationers are allocated to local authorities and monitored by the General Teaching Council for Scotland in partnership with the Scottish Government, so numbers are held centrally. Census data identifying teachers on the probationer induction scheme fell short of these numbers, so in this publication only the centrally held figures are shown.
18. Teachers are asked to supply their main subject taught. Where numbers in a given subject are small these have been included with "other".
19. Tables in this publication show class contact time ( CCT) for part-time teachers grossed up to a full time post. For example, if a teacher with FTE of 0.5 had a CCT of 10.5 hours, this would appear as FTE 0.5 with 21 hours CCT as that is what their equivalent CCT would be if they were working full time.
20. Information on qualifications and GTC registration is no longer collected as a part of Teacher Census.
21. The ethnicity and national identity categories were based broadly on those collected in the 2001 population census and were agreed following consultation. In choosing them it was necessary to balance the competing needs of not grouping different peoples together too much, while having large enough groups for valid analysis. Teachers were given the option of not disclosing their ethnicity. About 98 per cent of teachers disclosed their ethnic background. Where "minority ethnic groups" are referred to, this includes all categories of ethnic background other than "white- UK" and "white-other".
22. Roman Catholic approval means teachers have been approved as to their religious belief and character by representatives of the Roman Catholic church.
23. Supply teachers were separately identified as either covering a vacancy (and hence included in the total) or covering absence (and so not included to avoid double counting). In practice some schools may not have included the shorter term, sick absence cover staff in their returns, so figures for these may be an undercount.
24. Since 2006 greater detail has been collected for centrally employed teachers. There were some differences in the way in which authorities deal with visiting specialists. In some cases these are considered as allocated to the schools where they teach, and have been included, with relevant partial FTE, in the school-level data. In other cases they are included in the centrally employed staff table. We are also aware that local authorities have changed procedures for reporting during recent years, so figures are not comparable.
25. Since 2006 more detailed categories were collected for support staff data. Caution is advised when comparing with years prior to 2006.
Disclosive data
26. For certain types of information, numbers less than five are deemed to be disclosive, and hence not published. Where figures have been removed they are replaced by a *. Other figures in the table may also be removed to stop a disclosive figure from being calculated from the total. However, in some cases where there are a large number of pupils in the unknown category or where data is incomplete i.e. ethnic background and disability respectively, there often exists a large enough amount of uncertainty for figures to be published.
Rounding
27. All percentages and FTEs are rounded separately and breakdowns may consequently not sum to Scotland figures.
Symbols
28. The following symbols are used:
. . | = | not available |
# | = | not applicable |
- | = | nil or rounds to nil |
* | = | disclosive data |
Other data
29. Some further data, such as some schools level data, will be made available on the Scottish Government website at www.scotland.gov.uk/schoolstats.
General
30. All tables are available on the Scottish Government website at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/bulletins/00720
31. This is a National Statistics publication. National Statistics are produced to high professional standards set out in the National Statistics Code of Practice. They undergo regular quality assurance reviews to ensure that they meet customer needs. They are produced free from any political interference
32. This report was edited by: Kasia Bejtka, Mal Cooke.
Enquiries or comments
33. Public enquiries (non-media) about the information contained in this bulletin should be addressed to:
Kasia Bejtka,
Pupil, Teacher and School Statistics,
Scottish Government,
Area 1B-South,
Victoria Quay,
Edinburgh, EH6 6QQ.Tel - 0131 244 4933
Email - school.stats@scotland.gsi.gov.uk
34. Media enquiries about the information in this bulletin should be addressed to:
Aileen Easton: 0131 244 2972
24 th March, 2009
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