Scottish teacher numbers plummet to 10-year low

New figures reveal there are currently 50,824 nursery, primary and secondary teachers in Scotland, the lowest number since 2003 and more than 4,200 fewer than in 2007 when the SNP came to power.

The decline has also come despite an agreement by council umbrella body COSLA to protect teacher numbers in the face of budget cuts.

Teaching unions have now condemned councils' failure to meet the agreement and highlighted a loss of 254 teachers in the past year alone - which they said equated to a cut of almost ten million pounds.

Larry Flanagan, general secretary of the EIS, called on the Scottish Government to intervene to reverse the drop and impose financial penalties on councils with money being redeployed to schools in deprived areas.

He said: "The agreement to maintain teacher numbers across Scotland was hard won, at significant cost to teachers' pay and conditions, and was designed to keep class sizes at an acceptable level

"The fact Scotland's local authorities and COSLA have failed to deliver their part of the agreement is a clear betrayal of teachers, pupils and parents across Scotland.

"COSLA has argued for an end to the commitment on teacher numbers, but given its failure to meet the targets even when sanctions are in place, it is hard to see any reason for teachers to place any trust in them."

Mr Flanagan said cutting teacher numbers had "worrying potential consequences" for pupils and wider Scottish society.

Opposition politicians attacked the Scottish Government's record on education arguing that pupil teacher ratios were getting worse despite commitments by the SNP in 2007 to reduce class sizes.

The figures from Scotland's Chief Statistician show pupils teacher ratios have increased from 13 to 13.6 over the last seven years.

Only 12.9% pupils in the first three years of primary school are taught in classes which meet the Scottish Government's original target of 18 or fewer, compared to 21.6% in 2010.

Kezia Dugdale, education spokeswoman for Scottish Labour, said: "These statistics show that teacher numbers continue to drop and many of our primary classes are getting larger.

"In 2007, the SNP promised to reduce class sizes, but this promise to Scottish parents was abandoned less than two years later.

"Their latest target of ensuring that just 20% of those classes have 18 pupils or fewer has been an equally embarrassing failure."

Mary Scanlon, education spokeswoman for the Scottish Conservatives, said the "plummeting numbers" showed "just how badly the SNP has taken its eye off the ball".

"This study shows that, on education, the Scottish Government is failing on a number of target areas such as class-sizes and pupil-to-teacher ratio," she said.

Liam McArthur, education spokesman for the Scottish Liberal Democrats, said the figures "laid bare" the extent of the SNP's broken promises over education - will pupils set to suffer as a consequence.

He added: "SNP ministers have spent so long campaigning for independence that they have taken their eye off the ball when it comes to supporting key services like education.

"We now know that teacher numbers are at their lowest since the SNP came into power, the pupil-teacher ratio continues to increase and more primary school pupils are being taught in bigger classes."

Angela Constance, Scotland's new Education Secretary, said the news was "disappointing".

"We are already in discussions with councils, through COSLA, on the way ahead and these figures will now form part of those talks."

Douglas Chapman, education spokesman for council umbrella body COSLA, described the figures as "very pleasing".

"Local government has once again delivered on its commitment to maintain teacher numbers in line with pupil numbers," he said.

"We recognise that even small changes in the pupil teacher ratio can represent people's jobs, but at a time when the public sector remains under huge financial pressure maintaining the ratio at this level is a significant achievement.

"The statistics are positive and, like in previous years, local government has been true to its word on teacher employment."

The figures also revealed that the proportion of schools reported as being in "good" or "satisfactory" condition has increased from 61% in 2007 to 83% in 2014.

The number of pupils educated in "poor" or "bad" condition schools has decreased from 37% to 16% over the same period.

The percentage of trainee teachers in permanent or temporary employment increased from 79% in 2013 to 80% in 2014.

And in the nursery sector, 85% of 3 and 4-year-olds had access to a qualified teacher during the week of the census compared to 83.5% the previous year.