The Scottish Government is very aware of difficulties that some teachers have faced in trying to secure employment in recent years. Action has been taken by the Scottish Government to tackle teacher unemployment. For the past 3 years the number of students recruited to initial teacher education courses has been cut to lessen the competition for jobs and address oversupply. There are signs that inroads to correcting the oversupply situation have been made. There are significant reductions in the numbers of teachers claiming jobseeker allowance and the September 2011 school census showed that more new probationers were already in work than at that stage the previous year. In addition to this, other probationers from recent years who were not teaching in 2010 were now in work. Evidence of more teachers finding work, alongside teacher retirals running at over 4,200 and the primary school population starting to rise, suggested a modest increase in the number of student teacher places in session 2012/13 is necessary.
Education Ministers are determined that teachers who train and make a commitment to educating Scotland’s young people have strong job opportunities and are addressing the supply side of the equation. The balance between supply and demand will be achieved with local authorities, as employers of teachers, addressing the demand side of the equation. The Budget Agreement between Scottish Government and CoSLA, covering the spending review period 2012‑15, includes explicit commitments by local government to maintain teacher numbers in line with pupil numbers and to secure a place for all probationers under the teacher induction scheme who require one.