Teachers
Skilled, confident teachers are vital to educate and inspire young people. We want to encourage people into teaching and to support continuous professional development and leadership habits from the start.
- funding
- recruitment
- initial teacher education
- professional development of teachers
- teachers' pay and conditions
- related information
Funding
Additional funding (2020-2021 school year)
We have provided additional funding of £50 million for the recruitment of additional teachers and support staff that may be needed in the 2020-2021 school year to compensate for any loss of learning suffered by pupils during the COVID-19 lockdown, as well as to bring much needed resilience to the education system. Details of the funding allocations for each of the 32 local authorities are available.
Further additional funding (2020-2021 school year)
In addition to the previous £50 million additional funding, we have provided a further additional funding of £30 million for the recruitment of additional teachers. Read details of the funding allocations each of the 32 local authorities will receive from the additional £30 million funding.
Local authorities - recruitment of additional teachers
We have provided numbers of additional teachers local authorities have recruited. Some local authorities are still working through their recruitment process and we would expect this number to change.
Local authorities - recruitment of additional support staff
We have provided numbers of additional support staff local authorities have recruited.
Additional £45 million of new funding
On 13 January the Deputy First Minister announced a package of £45 million of new funding to further support education recovery. The funding will allow local authorities to deploy more support to their schools and families as they deal with the challenges of remote learning during lockdown. Read details of the funding allocations each of the 32 local authorities will receive.
Local authority allocations for the £25 million additional funding to cover continued education recovery
A further £25 million was made available to local authorities to support this to the end of the 2021/22 school year. Read details of the funding allocations each of the 32 local authorities will receive from the additional £25 million funding.
Local authorities - recruitment of additional teachers for the above additional £70 million funding.
We have provided numbers of additional teachers local authorities have recruited.
Local authorities - recruitment of additional support stuff for the above additional £70 million funding.
We have provided numbers of additional teachers local authorities have recruited.
Additional funding of £60 million for education recovery 2021 to 2022
On the 16 February the First Minister announced an additional allocation of £60 million to local government in 2021 to 2022 to further support education recovery.
This funding may be used flexibly by local authorities to employ a variety of school staff to meet the needs of children and young people. It wil ensure that levels of teaching and support staff in schools can be maintained during the academic year. It can also be used to employ early years practitioners to support the transition from ELC to primary school.
£50 million additional funding to increase teacher numbers by numbers by 1,000 and pupil support assistants by 500
Read details of the £50 million funding allocation that the local authorities received and how they recruited.
Teacher recruitment
Some local authorities are facing challenges when it comes to teacher recruitment. We have raised funding for trainee teachers to increase teacher training numbers and run specific campaigns to encourage people to consider teaching as a profession.
We set up the Teacher Workforce Planning Advisory Group to forecast and advise on demand for teacher numbers and subsequent student places in universities.
Primary and secondary teacher recruitment
We run a teacher recruitment campaign and website - Teaching makes people - to attract high quality people into priority areas.
The campaign currently focuses on undergraduates in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM), english and home economics subjects and to encourage professionals working in these areas to consider retraining.
Teacher shortages - UK Migration Advisory Committee
In June 2016, the UK Government asked the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to review whether there was a shortage of teachers in the UK, which it would be sensible to fill through non-European Economic Area (EEA) migration.
Local authorities are the employers of teachers in Scotland and therefore the benefit to them of teachers being included is that they can recruit from outside the EEA and they do not need to satisfy the Resident Labour Market Test (where employers need to prove that no other UK or EEA national could do the job).
We submitted a joint response with COSLA to the MAC's review in October 2016, with recommendations to 'maintaining maths, physics and chemistry teachers and including computer science, and design technology teachers on the Shortage Occupation List (UK and Scotland only).'
The Migration Advisory Committee Teacher Shortages in the UK report was published in January 2017.
New routes into teaching
We are supporting new routes into teaching to encourage more people to consider it as a career change. For example, encouraging employers to allow employees to retrain while working or through redefining the rules around teacher qualifications to allow secondary teachers to teach in primary schools. We continue to provide a STEM bursary to encourage people to consider a career change.
Initial teacher education
All teacher education programmes in Scotland are university-led. There are two routes available to prospective primary and secondary school teachers: a four year undergraduate programme and a one year Professional Graduate Diploma in Education (PGDE).
We are taking action to ensure that all initial teacher education programmes, including student placements, are high quality, consistent and deliver appropriate content, particularly around literacy, numeracy, health, wellbeing and equality.
Initial teacher education: content analysis is a quantitative look at the number of hours dedicated to key curriculum areas within initial teacher education programmes.
The Teacher Induction Scheme is a programme for newly qualified, Scottish trained teachers which guarantees the offer of a one-year teaching post in a Scottish local authority. Teachers are allocated to one of five local authorities of their choosing. Teachers on the programme have a maximum class commitment time equal to 82% to that of a full-time teacher, allowing additional time to be devoted to professional development. All have access to the services of an experienced teacher as a mentor.
Following induction, teachers should be ready to gain full registration with the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS).
Professional development of teachers
An ethos of continuous improvement for teachers and support for leadership are a key part of supporting Curriculum for Excellence and ensuring that we raise attainment and close the attainment gap between pupils from different social backgrounds.
Independent Panel on Career Pathways for Teachers
As part of the ambition to develop a school and teacher led education system, Independent Panel on Career Pathways for Teachers was established to identify exciting, flexible pathways and opportunities for teachers, including head teachers. The Panel conducted a 'call for evidence' and stakeholder engagement, from which recommendations were drafted and presented in a report to the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers on 30 May 2019.
Teaching Scotland's Future (TSF), published in January 2011, outlined many areas for improving teacher education. Progress has been made in developing a spectrum of career-long professional learning for teachers including: revised teaching standards, mentoring guidance and revised professional review and development guidance.
More information:
Leadership
The Scottish College for Educational Leadership (SCEL) supports leadership development at all levels. This will develop high performing leaders equipped to tackle the significant task of leading and managing in challenging and changing times and provides good examples of the ways in which teachers can engage in professional learning for leadership. The Scottish Framework for Educational Leadership supports this.
More information:
Head teacher recruitment
We will create a specific recruitment campaign for head teachers to encourage existing teachers to apply and continue their professional development.
Teachers' pay and conditions
Teachers' pay is negotiated by the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers (SNCT) which comprises teaching organisations, local authorities and the Scottish Government. Negotiations begin once the unions have formally lodged their pay claims.
It should be noted this government was the first in the UK to commit to lift the 1% public sector pay cap, and the teachers' pay deal for 2017 to 2018 reflects this commitment. That deal also commits members of the SNCT to undertaking a strategic review of pay and reward to ensure teaching remains an attractive career. Find out more: Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers.
Related information
Strategic Board for Teacher Education
The role of the Strategic Board for Teacher Education is to oversee and evaluate reform to teacher education since the publication of Teaching Scotland's Future. Find out more: Strategic Board for Teacher Education
Teacher Panel
The Teacher Panel is a represenative group of teachers set up to discuss Scottish education and to assess proposals for reducing workload in schools. Find out more: Teacher Panel.