Summary statistics for schools in Scotland no. 8: 2017 edition

Chapter 3: School Teachers

• 50,592 teachers in publicly funded schools compared to 49;985 in 2016
• 13.6 pupil teacher ratio in local authority schools – a decrease (improvement) of 0.1 from 2016
• 88% of teachers on the 2016/17 probationer

Table 3.1: Teachers (Full Time Equivalents)

Full Time Equivalents (FTE)

Local Authority	Primary School	Secondary School	Special School	Centrally employed	Total
Aberdeen City	829	714	48	32	1,624
Aberdeenshire	1,383	1,199	52	41	2,675
Angus	565	547	0	21	1,133
Argyll & Bute	408	401	8	9	825
Clackmannanshire	269	218	22	3	513
Dumfries & Galloway	690	688	8	84	1,470
Dundee City	637	608	56	29	1,330
East Ayrshire	554	546	62	26	1,189
East Dunbartonshire	533	625	52	35	1,245
East Lothian	454	456	0	25	935
East Renfrewshire	578	653	32	3	1,265
Edinburgh City	1,600	1,437	163	81	3,281
Na h-Eileanan Siar	164	156	0	8	327
Falkirk	754	788	64	14	1,620
Fife	1,761	1,586	83	68	3,498
Glasgow City	2,480	2,083	312	146	5,020
Highland	1,090	1,155	41	79	2,365
Inverclyde	341	355	41	1	738
Midlothian	433	398	32	30	892
Moray	415	399	0	42	856
North Ayrshire	680	626	38	52	1,396
North Lanarkshire	1,652	1,579	213	59	3,502
Orkney Islands	119	126	0	8	253
Perth & Kinross	675	622	19	14	1,329
Renfrewshire	784	764	85	23	1,656
Scottish Borders	473	474	0	108	1,055
Shetland Islands	160	154	0	9	323
South Ayrshire	507	495	25	30	1,056
South Lanarkshire	1,611	1,512	147	12	3,282
Stirling	430	459	20	17	925
West Dunbartonshire	455	438	48	21	961
West Lothian	972	841	111	0	1,924
All local authorities	24,455	23,099	1,781	1,128	50,464
Grant aided	21	51	55	0	127
Total	24,477	23,150	1,836	1,128	50,592

Table 3.2 shows that total teacher numbers (including primary, secondary, special and centrally employed teachers) across all publicly funded schools in Scotland decreased between 2011 and 2014, before rising year on year between 2014 and 2017. Although the total FTE for 2017 has increased since 2016, this is not the case for each local authority. In 27 local authorities the number of teachers has either been maintained or increased, with the largest increase being four per cent in West Dunbartonshire. Five local authorities saw a decrease this year, with the largest decrease being three per cent in Clackmannanshire.

Table 3.2: Teachers in schools (all sectors excluding ELC)⁽¹⁾

Full Time Equivalents (FTE)

Local Authority	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017
Aberdeen City	1,594	1,592	1,606	1,623	1,632	1,603	1,624
Aberdeenshire	2,538	2,546	2,594	2,593	2,650	2,655	2,675
Angus	1,154	1,145	1,153	1,140	1,136	1,125	1,133
Argyll & Bute	858	863	859	866	844	841	825
Clackmannanshire	483	483	493	495	490	528	513
Dumfries & Galloway	1,524	1,532	1,488	1,481	1,479	1,466	1,470
Dundee City	1,431	1,414	1,393	1,372	1,375	1,367	1,330
East Ayrshire	1,176	1,149	1,139	1,139	1,151	1,149	1,189
East Dunbartonshire	1,168	1,159	1,184	1,191	1,204	1,217	1,245
East Lothian	923	909	903	902	920	913	935
East Renfrewshire	1,185	1,193	1,207	1,201	1,213	1,227	1,265
Edinburgh City	3,116	3,171	3,213	3,159	3,193	3,213	3,281
Na h-Eileanan Siar	362	344	340	323	324	321	327
Falkirk	1,546	1,564	1,568	1,578	1,581	1,605	1,620
Fife	3,493	3,491	3,507	3,469	3,476	3,494	3,498
Glasgow City	4,950	4,959	4,813	4,803	4,779	4,869	5,020
Highland	2,361	2,351	2,340	2,331	2,357	2,355	2,365
Inverclyde	751	747	733	725	734	735	738
Midlothian	810	812	832	847	866	873	892
Moray	884	893	877	881	874	848	856
North Ayrshire	1,347	1,312	1,333	1,325	1,332	1,371	1,396
North Lanarkshire	3,538	3,525	3,503	3,452	3,406	3,474	3,502
Orkney Islands	242	243	250	254	255	260	253
Perth & Kinross	1,351	1,337	1,339	1,337	1,337	1,329	1,329
Renfrewshire	1,576	1,600	1,582	1,576	1,596	1,633	1,656
Scottish Borders	1,122	1,118	1,098	1,063	1,049	1,052	1,055
Shetland Islands	356	341	332	322	323	318	323
South Ayrshire	1,083	1,096	1,082	1,062	1,063	1,043	1,056
South Lanarkshire	3,145	3,149	3,174	3,147	3,176	3,202	3,282
Stirling	944	924	934	932	921	942	925
West Dunbartonshire	904	898	909	911	921	928	961
West Lothian	1,837	1,856	1,868	1,868	1,880	1,899	1,924
All local authorities	49,751	49,713	49,645	49,368	49,538	49,858	50,464
Grant aided	156	153	145	153	141	127	127
Total	49,907	49,867	49,790	49,521	49,679	49,985	50,592

(1) Includes teachers based in schools and centrally employed teachers.

Table 3.3 shows pupil teacher ratios (PTRs) in publicly funded schools, giving a measure of the size of the workforce compared with the pupil population. The national PTR worsened between 2011 and 2014 from 13.4 pupils per teacher to 13.7. It was then stable between 2014 and 2016 before improving in 2017 to 13.6.

The Attainment Scotland Fund is an initiative to tackle the poverty related attainment gap. At the time of the census in September 2017, 666 FTE teachers were funded through this initiative compared to 160 FTE in September 2016. The all local authority PTR excluding these teachers was 13.8, a rise of 0.1 on the equivalent ratio from the previous year.

Table 3.3: Pupil teacher ratios (PTRs) in schools (all sectors excluding ELC)⁽¹⁾

Pupils per teacher

Local Authority	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017
Aberdeen City	13.4	13.5	13.5	13.6	13.6	14.0	14.0
Aberdeenshire	13.4	13.4	13.3	13.5	13.3	13.4	13.3
Angus	13.2	13.2	13.1	13.3	13.2	13.3	13.3
Argyll & Bute	12.9	12.5	12.4	12.2	12.4	12.3	12.5
Clackmannanshire	13.6	13.7	13.5	13.3	13.4	12.5	12.9
Dumfries & Galloway	12.7	12.5	12.7	12.7	12.7	12.7	12.8
Dundee City	12.1	12.3	12.6	12.9	13.0	13.2	13.7
East Ayrshire	13.7	14.0	14.0	14.0	13.9	13.9	13.3
East Dunbartonshire	13.6	13.7	13.6	13.6	13.6	13.5	13.4
East Lothian	14.4	14.8	15.1	15.2	15.1	15.4	15.2
East Renfrewshire	13.7	13.5	13.4	13.7	13.7	13.7	13.5
Edinburgh City	14.3	14.2	14.3	14.9	14.9	15.1	15.1
Na h-Eileanan Siar	9.8	10.2	10.1	10.4	10.3	10.5	10.3
Falkirk	13.4	13.4	13.4	13.5	13.5	13.5	13.5
Fife	13.7	13.7	13.7	14.0	14.0	14.1	14.1
Glasgow City	13.1	13.1	13.6	13.6	13.8	13.8	13.5
Highland	13.2	13.2	13.2	13.2	13.1	13.1	13.0
Inverclyde	13.8	13.6	13.8	13.8	13.5	13.5	13.4
Midlothian	14.4	14.6	14.2	14.2	14.2	14.2	14.2
Moray	13.5	13.4	13.7	13.7	13.7	14.1	13.9
North Ayrshire	13.7	14.0	13.7	13.7	13.6	13.3	13.1
North Lanarkshire	13.8	13.9	13.9	14.2	14.4	14.1	14.0
Orkney Islands	11.0	11.0	10.6	10.5	10.5	10.4	10.8
Perth & Kinross	12.9	13.1	13.1	13.3	13.3	13.6	13.5
Renfrewshire	14.9	14.6	14.8	14.7	14.6	14.3	14.2
Scottish Borders	13.2	13.2	13.3	13.7	13.8	13.8	13.8
Shetland Islands	9.2	9.5	9.7	10.0	10.0	10.2	10.0
South Ayrshire	13.2	13.0	13.1	13.2	13.2	13.4	13.3
South Lanarkshire	13.7	13.7	13.6	13.7	13.7	13.7	13.4
Stirling	13.2	13.4	13.1	13.2	13.4	13.2	13.5
West Dunbartonshire	13.6	13.7	13.6	13.6	13.5	13.4	13.1
West Lothian	14.0	14.1	14.0	14.1	14.1	14.1	14.0
All local authorities	13.5	13.5	13.5	13.7	13.7	13.7	13.6
Grant aided(2)	8.3	8.4	8.7	8.1	8.6	9.2	9.3
All publicly funded	13.4	13.5	13.5	13.7	13.7	13.7	13.6

(1) Includes teachers based in schools and centrally employed teachers.

(2) The pupil teacher ratio for grant aided schools in 2011-2016 was amended in October 2017. See background notes for details.

One of the most important uses of the data collected in the teacher census is in modelling future changes in the workforce in order to provide guidance on the number of new teachers to train. Chart 1 shows the age profile of school teachers and the change since 2004. The age profile for 2004 shows a peak around age 50. However, in 2017 the age profile is relatively flat between age 23 (when most teachers qualify) and late fifties (when most teachers retire).

Chart 1: Age profile of school based teachers

Table 3.4 shows that in both primary and secondary sectors the proportion of teachers who are female falls at each level of seniority. In primary schools, 90% of all teachers are female compared to 86% of headteachers . In secondary schools 63% of teachers are female compared to only 41% of headteachers . The average (mean) age of primary, secondary and special school teachers was 41, compared to 44 in 2004, so teachers were, on average, younger in 2017 than in 2004.

The proportion of teachers who had temporary contracts (including probationers) was 16.7 per cent (compared with 16.3 per cent last year). 16.3 per cent of teachers were working part-time, with the rate higher amongst females (19.0 per cent) than males (7.3 per cent).

Table 3.4: Teacher characteristics

Percentage of Full Time Equivalents (FTE)

School
Local Authority	Primary	Secondary	Special	Centrally Employed(1)	Total
Gender
Female	90	63	76	84	77
Male	10	37	24	16	23
Unknown	0	0	0	0	0
Age (years)
Under 25	8	5	1	1	6
25 to 34	31	28	19	9	29
35 to 44	25	26	27	22	26
45 to 54	23	24	29	37	24
55 or over	12	17	23	32	15
Unknown	0	0	0	0	0
Average Age	40	42	45	41	41
Ethnicity
White – Scottish	67	60	64	51	63
White – Other British	25	29	24	30	27
White – Other	2	4	5	4	3
Minority Ethnic Group	1	2	1	5	1
Not Disclosed	5	6	5	11	5
Employment type
Permanent	81	85	88	83	83
Temporary (non-induction)	12	10	12	16	11
Probationer induction scheme	7	5	0	0	6
Grade
Head teacher	7	1	6	3	4
Percentage female	86	41	84	82	79
Depute head teacher	5	5	7	2	5
Percentage female	88	56	70	91	73
Principal teacher	7	23	11	10	15
Percentage female	89	62	73	79	69
Teacher	80	70	76	84	76
Percentage female	90	65	76	85	79
All - Percentage female	90	63	76	84	77
Mode of working
Full-time	81	87	83	66	84
Percentage female	89	61	74	82	75
Part-time(2)	19	13	17	34	16
Percentage female	95	82	85	90	90

(1) Excludes mainstream supply [These teachers are included in the appropriate school sector statistics].

Table 3.5 shows the percentage of post-probationers from recent induction cohorts who were in publicly funded permanent or temporary posts at the time of the following year's teacher census. The proportion increased from 87 per cent in 2016 to 88 per cent in 2017.

Table 3.5: Post-probationers in permanent or temporary employment in the following year's teacher census

Percentage Headcount

	Probationer cohort
	2010/11	2011/12	2012/13	2013/14	2014/15	2015/16	2016/17
Full-time permanent	16	28	35	39	45	55	57
Full-time temporary	35	35	35	33	35	27	28
Part-time permanent	1	3	2	2	2	2	1
Part-time temporary	14	8	6	6	4	2	2
Other(1)	34	25	21	20	14	13	12
Number of teachers in cohort	2,857	1,944	2,044	2,215	2,448	2,524	2,630

(1) The "Other" category includes those teaching elsewhere, including in the independent sector, those who have found supply work, and those who are unemployed or who have left teaching, although this detail is not included in the census data.

Table 3.6 shows that some of these teachers secure posts as they become available later in the year or in subsequent years. For example while 66 per cent of the 2010/11 cohort were present in the 2011 census, in the following censuses the percentage increased to 70 per cent in 2012 and 2013, 71 per cent in 2014 onwards.

Table 3.6: Post-probationers in permanent or temporary employment

Percentage Headcount

	Sep-11	Sep-12	Sep-13	Sep-14	Sep-15	Sep-16	Sep-17
2010/11 cohort	66	70	70	71	71	71	71
2011/12 cohort		75	77	79	77	78	77
2012/13 cohort			79	77	77	77	76
2013/14 cohort				80	81	79	78
2014/15 cohort					86	83	82
2015/16 cohort						87	84
2016/17 cohort							88