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Teacher employment increases
04/06/2008
More than 92 per cent of newly qualified teachers in Scotland are currently employed in teaching according to the latest figures from the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS). The figures also show an increase of 5 per cent in the numbers of teachers employed from Autumn last year.
Cabinet Secretary for Education Fiona Hyslop said:
"Today's GTCS survey results are encouraging with 92 per cent of newly qualified teachers employed in teaching. This is an increase of 5 per cent since Autumn, which highlights that teacher vacancies occur throughout the year and not just in August.
"The historic Concordat between the Scottish Government and local government contains an agreement to deliver year on year progress in reducing class sizes.
"We have made clear the local government settlement specifically included a special provision to maintain teacher numbers nationally at around 53,000 in the face of falling school rolls - and that by doing this local authorities can reduce class sizes.
"Everyone is aware there will be a steady flow of employment opportunities due to retirals. It is expected that around 6,000 teachers will leave the profession this year - almost 400 more than last year. With the 3500 probationer teachers coming into the system this year as well as others returning to the profession, there is plenty of opportunity for councils to maintain teacher numbers at a time of falling school rolls to reduce class sizes in P1-P3.
"Our plans for teacher training intakes - more than 20,000 in training by 2011 - also means that this policy will be sustainable in the future.
"We will continue to work closely with COSLA, GTCS and local authority employers to ensure that our arrangements teacher for workforce planning are robust."