Teaching Scotland: Huge shortfalls in number of students studying to become secondary teachers in key subjects like maths

Just 1,002 graduates enrolled in Professional Graduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) courses for secondary teaching in 2023, which was only very slightly more than half the target of 2,000.

Only 83 students were studying to be maths teachers via a PGDE, against a target of 250, while in English it was 127 out of 248. In modern languages, the intake was of 46 against a target of 138, and in technical education it was 26 out of 81.

Chemistry had attracted 54 students from a target of 159, while computing was 16 out of 52, music was 19 out of 54, and physics was 38 out of 131. PE was the only subject to meet its target.

Including undergraduates, indicative figures for the October 2023 intake to courses show a total of 1,241 students are studying to be secondary teachers, against a target of 2,336.

The picture is different in the primary sector, with 1,803 people enrolling in courses, more than the target of 1,734. In total, looking at both primary and secondary, the student teacher intake was 3,044, out of a target of 4,070.

One teacher told The Scotsman: “The shortfall in some of these core subjects will certainly have a huge impact on a school's ability to deliver a curriculum.”

The situation is complicated, however, with many teachers who are already qualified struggling to find jobs, particularly permanent posts.

Minutes from a meeting in November of the Teacher Workforce Planning Advisory Group show how the trends were discussed. It shows they discussed how applications were reducing both for initial teacher education, and more generally across universities.

However, they said secondary PGDE received around 5,000 applications and “it is necessary to understand why that does not translate into more acceptances”.

The group said consideration was needed on “how the system will cope with less graduates and if this will result in significant structural changes”. It said a “longitudinal review of secondary subject recruitment” was needed to “identify consequences for schools”.

Meanwhile, figures published on Tuesday show teacher numbers in Scotland fell by 160 last year, and are now more than 1,000 lower than when the SNP came to power in 2007.

A spokesman for the Scottish Government said: “The Scottish Government funds the teaching bursary scheme which provides £20,000 for career-changers in subjects such as maths, physics and computing science.

"The Strategic Board for Teacher Education is also considering issues around the recruitment to initial teacher education programmes and retention of teachers in Scotland in detail, including geographical and subject specific issues together with work to improve the promotion of teaching as a valued career.

"Scotland has the most teachers-per-pupil in the UK, the lowest pupil-to-teacher ratio and our classroom teachers are the best paid in the UK.”

He added: “We are also committed to supporting councils with an additional £145.5 million in next year’s budget to protect increased teacher numbers.”