1 Introduction
1.1 This report contains the latest data on teachers and support staff in publicly funded schools in Scotland, mainly derived from the annual staff census which took place in September 2009.
1.2 Information from the census is used to inform policy making, particularly in modelling the teacher workforce to ensure adequate future supply of newly trained teachers, and for monitoring current policies and equality issues.
1.3 Following the publication of Teachers in Scotland 2008 problems were identified with the completeness of the data provided to the Scottish Government by local authorities. This bulletin therefore contains revised figures for 2007 and 2008. Data for 2003 to 2006 will also be reviewed in due course and if necessary new figures will be published.
1.4 Unless clearly stated as headcount, figures are always full-time equivalent.
2 Totals
2.1 The total number of teachers based in pre-school, primary, secondary and special schools, or visiting specialists, was 52,993, which is 1,348 fewer than the revised 2008 figure of 54,341.
2.2 The pupil teacher ratio in schools increased from 12.9 in 2008 to 13.2 this year.
2.3 There were a further 22,144 school based staff and 3,257 centrally employed support staff identified in the staff census as providing support to the education system.
2.4 Using data from the Public Sector Employment Statistics survey, the total FTE number of teachers employed in the public sector is 56,000 in local authorities plus 200 in grant aided schools (both rounded to the nearest 100). This total figure is higher than the figure in 2.1 above as it also includes those away from the classroom due to sickness, secondment, parental leave, etc..
3 Main Points
3.1 The following numbers will be partly affected by local authorities changing whether they record visiting specialists as centrally employed or in the schools where they teach.
3.2 There were 23,255 teachers in primary schools (23,621 in 2008), giving a pupil teacher ratio of 15.8 (15.7 in 2008). Ninety-two per cent of teachers were female, the same as in 2008.
3.3 There were 25,371 teachers in secondary schools (26,067 in 2008), giving a pupil teacher ratio of 11.9 (11.7 in 2008). Sixty-one per cent of teachers were female, an increase from 2008 (60 per cent).
3.4 There were 1,985 teachers in special schools (2,083 in 2008), giving a pupil teacher ratio of 3.4 (3.2 in 2008). Eighty-one per cent of teachers were female, the same as in 2008.
3.5 There were a further 745 teachers reported as centrally employed (933 in 2008). Some of this change is due to changes in reporting practices.
3.6 There were 1,638 teachers in pre-school in the January 2009 census.
3.7 The average (mean) age of primary, secondary and special school teachers fell slightly, from 43.1 to 43.0. There was an increase in the proportion of teachers aged under 40 (39 per cent compared to 38 per cent in 2008) and in those aged 55 or over (21 per cent compared to 20 per cent in 2008). The age profile shows a major peak at age 55, and increasing numbers in the late twenties.
3.8 The proportion of teachers who were male was 24 per cent. In promoted posts the proportion who were male was 33 per cent, with the figure being 27 per cent for head teachers and deputes.
3.9 In primary schools there were 166 teachers whose main subject was physical education, 102 whose main subject was music and 70 whose main subject was art & design. There were 569 who reported learning support as their main subject, and 315 gave additional support needs related subjects.
3.10 In secondary schools, the largest numbers of teachers were in English (2,915) and maths (2,718). Technical education was the subject with the highest proportion of male teachers (85 per cent), with home economics being nearly all female teachers. Physical education, music and drama teachers had the youngest average age, with additional support needs teachers being on average the oldest.
3.11 Where ethnic background data was given (in 97 per cent of cases), 2.5 per cent of teachers were from non- UK, white backgrounds, and 1.5 per cent from other minority ethnic groups. In promoted posts the proportion was 1.0 per cent and 0.6 per cent respectively, though the minority ethnic group teachers have not, on average, been in the workforce for as long as white- UK teachers.
3.12 There were 111 teachers currently teaching Gaelic language (up from 107 in 2008), 256 providing Gaelic medium education (242 in 2008), and 415 teachers who reported being able to teach through the medium of Gaelic (404 in 2008).
3.13 There were 3,044 teachers in the probation induction scheme (3,167 in 2008), of which 1,865 were in primary schools and 1,179 were in secondary schools.