The Scottish Government has announced funding for 371 additional teacher training places at universities across Scotland, starting from September. Education Secretary John Swinney confirmed that the total number of places will rise to 3,861, backed by over £3 million in government funding.
The announcement comes amid criticism from opposition parties over falling teacher numbers and standards in Scottish schools. Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale has highlighted that 4,000 teaching staff have been lost since the SNP came to power in 2007, including 826 science and maths teachers. Figures from last August showed over 500 teacher vacancies in Scotland.
Mr Swinney said the government is working with local authorities to increase teacher numbers, with an additional 253 teachers already in classrooms this year. He also noted that a new recruitment campaign aims to attract more teachers to science, technology, engineering, and maths (Stem) subjects, and urged former oil and gas workers to consider teaching.
Scottish Labour's education spokesman welcomed the extra places but argued they do not address the SNP's decade of underfunding education. He pointed to a nearly 15% fall in newly-qualified primary teachers and claimed that SNP-Green budget cuts of £1.5bn from councils since 2011 have exacerbated the crisis.
Scottish Conservative education spokeswoman Liz Smith said the move is welcome but stressed the need for improved employment rates for newly-qualified teachers, warning that Scotland cannot afford to lose its pool of teacher trainees.
