Scottish schools lose almost 1,000 Maths and English teachers in 10 years

12 Mar 2019

Subject teachers in Scottish schools have declined dramatically since the SNP came to power, according to the latest statistics released by the Scottish Government.

The Teacher Census 2018, published today, shows that since 2008, more than 500 fewer Scottish secondary school teachers are taking English as their main subject, a drop from 2992 to 2473.

In addition, there are over 400 fewer secondary school Maths teachers than when the SNP began their administration. Over the last ten years, the number of secondary school teachers taking Maths as their main subject has declined from 2787 to 2364.

This represents a combined drop in Maths and English teachers in Scottish schools of 942 since 2008.

Secondary school French teachers have also dropped by nearly 400 over the same period, and the number of STEM-related teachers in Scottish Schools is also down with cuts to the numbers of teachers taking physics, chemistry, geography, business studies, computing and technical education as their main subject.

The Scottish Conservatives have said that the SNP’s inaction on this issue is ‘completely unacceptable’.

Liz Smith, Scottish Conservative shadow education secretary said:

“Parents will be very angry when they see this evidence of the decline in teacher numbers especially in core subjects like English and Maths.

“This comes at the same time as many people in education are expressing their deep-seated concern about the reduction in subject choice – the damning evidence for which is currently before the education committee at Holyrood.

“It is completely unacceptable that the SNP has allowed this situation to develop.

“They were warned about the implications several years ago and ministers have done nothing to address the problem. Meanwhile, young people in our classrooms are losing out on vital education.”