The total number of teachers across all sectors in Scotland increased by 63 between 2024 and 2025, according to .
This increase follows drops in teacher numbers over three consecutive years from 2022 to 2024.
However, the number of teachers working in Scotland remains well below the figure in 2023, meaning the Scottish government has failed to deliver on its goal to restore the number of teachers to the level of two years ago - something education secretary Jenny Gilruth said in 2024 she had given councils an extra £69 million to achieve.
The 2025 teacher census records a total of 53,475 teachers working in Scotland - 558 fewer than in 2023, when there were 54,033 teachers employed in Scottish schools.
The data also shows that in half of local authorities teacher numbers actually decreased in 2025; in the remaining 16 authorities teacher numbers either increased or remained the same.
Target to increase number of teachers
The government’s failure to increase teacher numbers significantly will come as a blow to Scottish teachers, who are threatening strike action over the SNP’s slow progress in delivering on its 2021 manifesto pledge to reduce class-contact time by 90 minutes a week. In order to deliver this any time soon, more teachers are needed in the system.
The failure to increase teacher numbers significantly also means it is now impossible for the Scottish government to deliver on another pledge, made in 2021, to employ at least 3,500 more teachers and 500 more classroom assistants over this Parliament, which ends in 2026.
The annual teacher census data was just one set of statistics released today by the government.
No permanent exclusions
Other data shows:
- Permanent exclusion has been wiped out in Scotland, according to . No pupils were permanently excluded in 2024-25, compared with one pupil in 2022-23. This is the first time there have been no pupils removed from the register since records began in 2002-03.
- Cases of temporary exclusion also fell from 11,673 in 2022-23 to 10,647 in 2024-25, consistent with the overall downward trend since 2006-07. The rate of exclusions per 1,000 pupils decreased from 16.6 in 2022-23 to 15.2 in 2024-25.
- The proportion of pupils recorded as having an additional support need rose again this year to 43 per cent of all pupils (299,445 individuals), according to . This is 2.5 percentage points higher than 2024, when 40.5 per cent of pupils had an additional support need. A decade ago, in 2015, 22.5 per cent of pupils had an additional support need. In secondary it is now the case that almost half of students have a recorded ASN (48.8 per cent).
- The overall persistent absence rate for 2024-25 was 28.5 per cent, meaning that 28.5 per cent of pupils in Scotland were absent for 10 per cent or more of the school year (equivalent to 19 full days). This represents a decrease in persistent absence compared with 2023-24, when the rate was 31.4 per cent, but the figure remains higher than the pre-Covid level recorded in 2018-19 of 21.8 per cent,
- Persistent absence in 2024-25 was highest in secondary at 37.4 per cent (down from 40.6 per cent in 2023-24) and lowest in primary at 21.1 per cent (down from 23.9 per cent in 2023-24).
CfE levels
Meanwhile, on the proportion of pupils achieving the Curriculum for Excellence level for their age and stage shows:
- The proportion of primary pupils (P1, P4 and P7 combined) hitting the expected level for their age and stage remained the same for numeracy (80.3 per cent in both 2023-24 and 2024-25). In terms of literacy, there was a slight increase to 74.5 per cent of primary pupils overall hitting the expected level, up from 74 per cent in 2023-24. These proportions are the highest to date for literacy and the joint highest for numeracy.
- However, when broken down by age and stage, the picture is more varied. At P7 the highest-ever proportions achieved the expected levels for reading, writing, listening and talking and numeracy. This was also true at P4 for the literacy measures, but numeracy attainment was “very slightly lower than in 2023-24” and at P1 there was “a slightly lower proportion achieving the expected level” for all measures.
- For S3 students, the proportions in 2024-25 achieving third level or better in literacy (90 per cent) and numeracy (91 per cent) were at their highest-ever level.
- For primary pupils combined (P1, P4 and P7) the disadvantage-related attainment gap for literacy narrowed from 20.2 percentage points in 2023-24 to 19.4 percentage points in 2024-25. The attainment gap in numeracy was also narrower than in any previous year. However, the Liberal Democrats pointed out that at the current rate of progress it could take more than 100 years to close some of these gaps.
Commenting on the figures, Ms Gilruth said attainment levels were “at record highs in literacy and numeracy following Scottish government investment of £1.75 billion in the Scottish Attainment Challenge over the past decade”.
She also said it was “hugely encouraging to see the improvement in attendance and a fall in absences, including a noticeable reduction in persistent absence levels”.
The education secretary acknowledged, however, that there was “more work needed” to return teacher numbers to 2023 levels. She said the government would “continue to work with councils towards this”.
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