Commenting on the ‘Summary Statistics for Schools in Scotland’, Dr Patrick Roach,  General Secretary of NASUWT – The Teachers’ Union, said:

“The fact that teacher numbers have declined for a consecutive year reflects the Scottish Government’s failure to make teaching a rewarding, secure and respected profession. 
 
“Real terms erosion of pay, spiralling workloads and working hours and growing concerns about pupil behaviour are making teaching an increasingly unattractive and unsustainable career choice.

“At a time when recruitment and retention is becoming more challenging, it is disappointing to see the proportion of post-probationary teachers on temporary contracts rising. Denying them the stability and security they need and deserve to thrive in their workplace and plan for their futures is not going to help encourage new teachers to stay in the profession long-term.”
  
Mike Corbett, NASUWT National Official Scotland, said:
 
“That levels of pupil attendance have fallen to their lowest since the Scottish Government began publishing these statistics is worrying and a further sign of the fracture caused by the pandemic in cementing families’ relationship with schools and education.

“More needs to be done by ministers and local authorities to investigate the reasons why pupils are more likely to miss school and support families, particularly those from more deprived households and whose children have special needs, to reengage with the education system.

“On levels of exclusions, schools need increased access to external specialist support services who can work with children to help address the factors contributing to their poor behaviour before it reaches the point of pupils needing to be excluded.”