Scotland’s teaching workforce, in the open
Behind every figure is a question. Explore the requests, read the responses and see what the records reveal about teaching in Scotland.
01Explore the evidence
A starting point for your research. Every finding carries its own period, context and source.
Unsuccessful interview applications: 2021/22: 2970, 2022/23: 3421, 2023/24: 3320
Archived dashboard status (April 2026): Successful; response says figures cover all listed teaching post categories.
Archived document 4997e842 (TXT) · line 29
Reviewed 2026-09-07
Teachers achieving permanency: 2021/2022: 25, 2022/2023: 38, 2023/2024: 32
Archived dashboard status (April 2026): Successful; no inference is made about teachers outside the reported process.
Archived document 1b682171 (TXT) · line 22
Reviewed 2026-09-07
The council recorded 8, 14, 12, 12 and 10 supply teachers deployed Monday to Friday during 9–13 September 2024.
Successful response; counts are authority-specific.
Archived document 12cfef44 (TXT) · line 6
Reviewed 2026-09-07
144 completed TIS by June 2025: 75 primary and 69 secondary.
Authority response; allocation/non-completion referred to an earlier request.
Archived document b3e96237 (TXT) · lines 29-31
Reviewed 2026-09-07
Scottish Government reported per-probationer TIS costs of £11,523-£48,711 and £90,000 annual GTCS administration funding.
Range, not a standard unit cost.
Archived document 800b526c (PDF) · PDF pages 2-3
Reviewed 2026-09-07
The response dated 20 November 2024 says that it was not asked to increase its teacher-training intake quota for the 2024/25 academic year
Archived dashboard status (April 2026): Successful; any redacted supporting communications remain member-only.
Archived document 4cf1aac8 (TXT) · lines 37-38
Reviewed 2026-09-07
02Explore the evidence
Seven ways into the evidence. Start with an issue, then explore the records behind it.
What follows the induction year? See how placements lead into teaching work.
160 requestsExplore topicPermanent, temporary and casual work: see what councils record about security in teaching.
129 requestsExplore topicApplications, interviews and vacant posts, with each measure explained in context.
96 requestsExplore topicHow councils recruit and use supply teachers, including the census-week snapshot.
64 requestsExplore topicClass organisation, pupil–teacher ratios and the staff available to teach.
64 requestsExplore topicThe decisions, correspondence and funding behind teacher numbers.
259 requestsExplore topicUniversity intake, course provision and the link between training and the workforce.
32 requestsExplore topicResearch by council
See which requests and findings are available for each council. The map shows archive coverage, not council performance.
Select a council to see its findings, requests and workforce statistics.
Island insets are shown at different scales.
● All catalogue requests have files◐ Some requests have metadata only
ONS council boundaries, December 2024. ONS December 2024 boundaries; simplified to 450 metres for display. Island insets use different scales. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2024. Contains National Statistics data © Crown copyright and database right 2024. Open Government Licence v3.0.
03Explore the evidence
Sourced investigations into teacher employment, funding and local policy.
Permanency · Temporary contracts
The reviewed documents show that qualifying service is only one part of the route. Councils describe different windows, continuity rules, application processes and outcomes.
Temporary contracts · Continuity
The research separates a legitimate temporary need from a continuing role. It sets out the post history, funding, vacancy and service records needed before drawing conclusions.
Funding · Workforce planning
Funding announcements, allocations, staffing conditions and permanent-job outcomes are different stages. The public site keeps those stages separate instead of treating an allocation as proof of a permanent post.
Recruitment · Probationers
A vacancy can pass through several staffing obligations before open recruitment. The investigation records the documented sequence without assuming that every council operates the same order.
04Explore the evidence
Explore official workforce statistics by year and sector. Council comparisons use the same census measures.
2024/25 cohort · All sectors
Employment recorded in September 2025, following the Teacher Induction Scheme.
in a full-time permanent post
538 of 2,294 teachersShare of the cohort
In a full-time permanent post
2024/2523.5% in a full-time permanent post
| Cohort | Census | Total | Full-time permanent | Part-time permanent | Full-time temporary | Part-time temporary | Other |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019/20 | 2020 | 3076 | 37.8% | 1.4% | 42.5% | 3.2% | 15.1% |
| 2020/21 | 2021 | 3123 | 30.9% | 1.4% | 42.0% | 6.1% | 19.6% |
| 2021/22 | 2022 | 3218 | 32.7% | 1.3% | 30.5% | 5.8% | 29.7% |
| 2022/23 | 2023 | 2892 | 28.8% | 1.5% | 33.2% | 7.2% | 29.3% |
| 2023/24 | 2024 | 2673 | 24.9% | 1.8% | 30.5% | 8.3% | 34.6% |
| 2024/25 | 2025 | 2294 | 23.5% | 1.3% | 34.2% | 10.1% | 31.0% |
Source: Scottish Government, Teacher census supplementary statistics 2025 ↗ · Table 1.6.
Published census data, not a live employment feed. Use published all-sector figures; sector headcounts can overlap. Read the methodology ↗
05Explore the evidence
Reviewed findings and checked progress from ongoing investigations.
All recovered requests are available now. New findings and progress updates appear here when they have been checked and published.
Make the evidence useful
Download the data, copy a citation or share a request. Good evidence should be easy to use.
Search requests, councils, topics, questions and document contents.
