Record number of early career teachers quitting

At today’s session of First Minister’s Questions, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP challenged John Swinney over the SNP’s “brutal” failure to properly support teachers, as he published new figures showing more than 400 recent teaching graduates left the profession last year alone.

A Scottish Liberal Democrat freedom of information request to the General Teaching Council for Scotland has revealed that since 2018:

• 2,081 registrants have permanently left the register, within 5 years of gaining provisional registration.
• The number of recent registrants leaving the register each year has doubled from 183 in 2018 to 408 in 2025.

Speaking in parliament, Alex Cole-Hamilton said:

“Today, Scottish Liberal Democrats are publishing figures which show that a record 400 recent graduates left teaching last year.

“Why, under the SNP, are people who are ready and raring to teach, who have grafted for their qualifications, being forced out of Scottish education altogether?”

He went onto say:

“Under the SNP, three quarters of newly qualified teachers can’t get the full-time permanent contracts they need to pay the bills or get a mortgage. It’s absolutely brutal.

“One graduate has been stuck on supply lists for nine years, racking up tens of thousands of pounds worth of debt. He even tried to take his own life.

“Many more are being forced to work abroad, when they want to teach here. It is a brain drain.

“Why can’t the First Minister admit that his government have made an absolute pig’s ear of this, and that thousands of teachers are paying the price?”