Do you want a rewarding and stimulating job where no two days are the same? Or would you like to see personal development in people and make a difference to their lives? If so, then you should definitely consider teaching or classroom support as a career.

There’s no doubt that teaching can be an exhausting vocation at times. But, even if your students don’t seem to want to learn, you can rest assured that your enthusiasm for a subject can sow the seeds which can grow throughout a student’s life!

The latest figures from 2022 report that there were 52,422 school based teachers in Scotland, compared to 52,593 in 2021. Around 95% of Scottish schools are state schools, run by the 32 Scottish local authorities.

What areas can I work in?

There are many areas that you can work in the education sector: primary school teaching, secondary school teaching, learning support teaching and classroom support, private tutoring or teaching, and college or university lecturing.

To see the routes to getting into each of these sectors, take a look at our Career Pathway.

What kind of companies can I work for?

Possible employers include: 

• local authority-run pre-schools, primary and secondary schools 
• independent schools or academies 
• commercial language schools 
• young offenders' institutions 
• charities 
• colleges and universities.

What’s the job market like?

According to the Scottish government, in 2022 there were 171 less teachers working in Scottish schools compared to 2021. The pupil to teacher ratio (PTR) in schools has stayed the same at 13.3%. However, early learning and child care centre teacher numbers increased by 30 from 2021, to 734 in 2022.

Because there continues to be demand in subject areas such as Maths, Chemistry, Computing, and Physics, the Scottish Government, in conjunction with universities that provide Initial Teacher Education (ITE), accredited 12 new routes into teaching to try and encourage more people into the profession. 

In Scotland’s colleges, employment figures have been relatively stable: there are around 14,124 staff in working in colleges (51% lecturing staff and 49% support staff), 68% of whom worked full time.  
In Scottish universities, the total number of academic staff for the 2021/22 session was 25,775, an increase of 835 from the previous year. 

There is work for teachers of English as a Foreign Language in Scotland, as well as elsewhere in the UK and abroad, as more people want to learn to speak English.

Facts and figures

• 2,606 early learning and childcare centres, 1,994 primary schools and 358 secondary schools
• 109 Additional Support for Learning (ASL) schools for children who need extra learning or behavioural support
• 25,451 primary teachers, 24,874 secondary teachers, 2,097 teaching in Additional Support for Learning (ASL) schools as well as visiting specialist teachers.

• there are 26 colleges across 13 regions in Scotland with around 213,135 students every year.
• 8,000 students progress onto university each year.

• the top three areas of study in Scotland, based on enrolment numbers were: business and management (45,020); subjects allied to medicine (36,370); and social sciences (27,060)
• the three institutions with the highest number of Scottish student enrolments were: the Open University (21,200); the University of Glasgow (20,520); and, the University of Strathclyde (18,520).

Want to find out more?

You can find out more information about becoming a teacher at the Scottish government Teach in Scotland website. 

Sources

• Statistics for Schools in Scotland 2022, Scottish Government (December 2022)
• General Teaching Council for Scotland website (July 2023)
• Colleges Scotland Key Facts 2022
• HE staff by HE provider and activity standard occupational classification (Academic) (Scotland, Scotland, 2021/22), HESA
• HE student enrolments by HE provider and domicile (Scotland, 2021/22), HESA
• HE student enrolments by subject of study and domicile (Scotland, 2021/22), HESA

Video

Career Pathway