Hundreds of ‘demoralised’ teachers quitting profession within five years
The Scottish Government is being urged to do more to retain teachers after it emerged more than 1,300 left within five years of starting their careers.
Figures obtained by the Scottish Liberal Democrats show 1,337 teachers have left the register within five years, since 2018. The data from the General Teaching Council for Scotland reveals the number of registrants departing has increased from 183 in 2018 to 338 in 2023.
Scottish teachers agreed a new pay deal after industrial action last year. But a series of issues are feared to be forcing many to rethink their careers, including escalating violence and abuse, a lack of permanent posts, and high workload and time pressures.
Willie Rennie, Lib Dem spokesman on education, said: “With industrial disputes becomingaregularoccurrence and reports of violence in classrooms, I can understand why teaching is not as attractive a career as it once was.
“Those who have completed their probation aren’t being offered stable contracts, with many turning to casual work or supply lists instead. Teachers who are just starting out on their careers are feeling demoralised … The SNP once claimed they wanted to be judged on their record on education. They certainly aren’t saying that anymore.
“If we want to give our young people the best chance of getting ahead in life, they need access to great teachers and a great education.
“Scottish Liberal Democrats want to see properly resourced schools and education authorities, with a plan for getting Scottish education moving in the right direction.
“We would make teaching a more attractive career path by bringing back principal teachers for key subjects, halting teacher cuts, stable contracts and boosting in-class support.”
Official statistics published last month show there were 54,033 teachers in Scotland, with 82 percent on permanent contracts.
In the year after probation, just 29 per cent of teachers were in permanent, fulltime posts last year.
A total of 71 per cent were in some kind of teaching job, including temporary and part-time roles.
Education Secretary Jenny Gilruth told MSPS in November that she had sought expert advice on the country’s education workforce modelling analysis, which would “inform our decisions on education workforce planning in future years”. Andrea Bradley, general secretary of Scotland’s largest teaching union, the EIS, said: “Not enough new teachers are coming into the profession, and increasing numbers of experienced teachers are leaving the profession early.
“While pay is not the only issue that impacts on teacher numbers, it is still an important factor in the recruitment and retention of highly-qualified graduates.
A spokesman for the Scottish Government said: “The current pay deal is the most generous pay deal for teachers since 2001 … The deal has a cumulative value of 14.6 per cent and will mean an overall increase of more than £6,100 over two years for the majority of classroom teachers.”