Teaching and Classroom Support

Teaching is a very rewarding career. It’s hard work – most careers are – but at least you know you are in a position to develop and enhance the lives of children and young people. Even if your pupils don’t seem to want to learn, your enthusiasm will sow seeds which can grow right through life!

• Around 95% of Scottish schools are state schools, run by the 32 Scottish local authorities.
• There are 2,504 pre-schools.
• There are about 2,056 primary schools.
• There are 364 secondary schools.
• There are 149 Additional Support for Learning (ASL) schools for children who need extra learning or behavioural support.

The number of teachers and support staff in Scotland varies from year to year, based on school population changes and the budgets of individual local authorities.

Demand for primary and secondary teachers had been expected to rise, due to Government plans to reduce class sizes and the large number of teachers approaching retirement age, but, the economic downturn has had a major impact on many sectors in the labour market, including teaching. Pupil teacher ratio in primary schools increased from 16.3 in 2012 to 16.5 in 2013. Many teachers who might have considered early retirement have decided to stay on in their jobs. The number of advertised vacancies for teachers has started to rise again after been down for the past few years. Classroom assistant posts have been cut back in many areas. In further and higher education new entrants are finding it difficult to get permanent posts in lecturing. Colleges are being affected by budget cuts and by the introduction of regionalisation by the Scottish Government. This has involved merging colleges into 13 defined regions located across Scotland and in some areas this may lead to job loses. The number of colleges has dropped from 41 to 26. However, the situation is slowly beginning to improve with demand for primary teachers on the rise. The Scottish Government put an extra 370 places into universities offering primary teacher training places in 2013. This should also have a positive effect on recruitment to secondary teaching in the coming years.

• In 2013 there were 51,078 teachers in Scotland (175 less than in 2012).
• There were 22,905 primary teachers, 23,695 secondary teachers, 1,256 teachers working with pre-5s, 2,020 teaching in Additional Support for Learning (ASL) schools as well as visiting specialist teachers.
• 91% of primary teachers and 63% of secondary teachers are female.

There is work for teachers of English as a Foreign Language, in Scotland, elsewhere in the UK and abroad, as more people want to learn to speak English. Working with children and young people can be both demanding and stimulating. To be a good teacher or classroom assistant you should be:

• enthusiastic and patient
• imaginative
• energetic and able to get on well with children and young people
• adaptable to teach children and young people with different abilities and different ways of learning
• firm, to maintain discipline.

To get a job as a classroom assistant you do not need qualifications. However, if you study for a suitable course or have previous relevant experience you will find it easier to find employment. You can also study part time to get qualifications while you are working. A lot of classroom assistants are mums who return to work as their children grow up. To be a teacher you must have a teaching qualification and also Higher English plus Maths at SCQF Level 5 (Standard grade Credit level, National 5 or Intermediate 2). All teachers and most lecturers have a degree, but some further education lecturers have a Higher National Diploma (HND) in the vocational subject they teach. This career area is divided into 5 sectors:

• Primary school teaching and classroom support
• Secondary school teaching
• Learning support teaching and classroom support
• Teaching – other
• College or university lecturing.

Sources

Summary Statistics for Schools in Scotland, No4 (2013 Edition)

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