Education
School‑level indicators show strain in 2024 data, The Scottish Government’s own statistics show several pressure points:
Teacher numbers are falling
53,412 teachers, down 621 from 2023.
Both primary and secondary teacher numbers declined.
Class sizes are rising
Primary class size increased from 23.2 to 23.3.
Pupil–teacher ratio worsened
Now 13.3, up from previous years.
Early learning uptake has dipped
95% uptake for age 3–4, down from 97%.
These trends suggest growing pressure on the system.
PISA and Scottish Government data both show:
Pupils in deprived areas perform significantly worse.
The attainment gap has not closed meaningfully.
This remains one of Scotland’s biggest unresolved education issues.
Scotland’s ASN (Additional Support Needs) system is under intense pressure, and the latest evidence shows a pattern that is now impossible to ignore. The sharp rise in need has not been met with the support required. The move to an inclusion based education, whilst the intention may have been right was always going to be undermined if the funding to support the children with a wide range of ASN in main stream classrooms wasn’t there. The result is a system that works well in some places, but is inconsistent, overstretched, and often failing the children who need it most. Multiple sources highlight a decline in specialist ASN teachers, support staff, and educational psychologists.
I have spoken to many parents of children with ASN who have not been against inclusion as a principle, but what they have found very frustrating is when they have felt ignored when they have tried to explain why the mainstream classroom isn’t working for their children, one parent said “the suggestion was they knew what was best for our child”, they also went onto say that when their child would come home from school upset they had to try and calm their child, not knowing if there was a specific thing that had upset them or whether they were just feeling overwhelmed. Many parents would like to see a base in every school so that their children could have regular time away from the main stream classroom but it needs to be structured as routine is often critical for their children to cope. Some parents felt guilty that their child was possible detracting from other children’s learning, but most parents felt if adequate support was given in the classroom and the use of a base everyone from their children, to other children and the teachers would all benefit.
The number of pupils identified with ASN has more than doubled in a decade.
2025: 299,445 pupils (43% of all pupils)
2024: 284,448 pupils (40.5% of all pupils)
This includes needs such as autism, dyslexia, ADHD, mental health issues, trauma, and temporary needs due to family circumstances. Some question whether there has been over diagnoses/identification. Speaking to some families their experience was getting a diagnosis was very difficult.
It has been difficult to show examples of data on attainment as there are many different sources with different ways of describing what the attainment looks like across Scotland. What has become evident is that the increase in violence in schools in Scotland is causing significant disruption to learning and is contributing to teachers wanting to leave the profession. Women make up the vast majority of teachers in Scotland, with 89% of primary teachers and about two-thirds of the overall teaching workforce being women and with the increase in violence towards women in general, the need to send a very clear message that we will not tolerate violence against our teachers. The need to consider a ban on mobile phones and smart watches in schools has never been more pressing in part to protect our children and part to protect our teachers.
Possible solutions:
The Scottish Government needs to identify additional funding for interventions and support for children with ASN, the funding needs to be repeat, and ring fenced to allow councils to meet and maintain the rise in demand.
The Scottish Government needs to create legislation to ban mobile phones and smart watches from schools and not leave it to individual schools to navigate the ban. There is a recognition that we should make a provision within any legislation to allow schools to make exception where mobile phones may be used as part of a lesson.