SNP wasting money on training surplus primary teachers

Scottish Liberal Democrat education spokesperson Duncan Dunlop has today (Thursday 9th July) criticised the SNP’s botched handling of teacher planning, as he revealed the government is training hundreds more primary school teachers than are needed.

New analysis compares the Scottish Government’s teacher workforce modelling with the Scottish Funding Council’s 2026/27 approved intake targets.

According to the Scottish Government’s workforce modelling, which assumes undergraduate intakes remain unchanged, Scotland only requires 530 PGDE qualified primary school teachers to maintain teacher numbers in 2026/27.  

Figures from the Scottish Funding Council, however, show, an approved intake target of 720 PGDE primary school teaching qualifications.

Scottish Liberal Democrat education spokesperson Duncan Dunlop MSP said:

“There are already thousands of unemployed and underemployed primary teachers on short-term contracts for years on end. Yet the Scottish Government continues to instruct universities to train way more primary teachers than schools need.

“It is a waste of public money to educate teachers that schools don’t need.

“It’s also completely unfair on the many enthusiastic and newly qualified primary teachers who are being given false hope for jobs that don’t exist. They are spending years patching together short-term contact after short-term contact- that’s even if they find a job.

“Given Scotland’s declining birth rate, this problem is only set to get worse. Right now, there’s no credible plan for change.

“My party have urged the government to bring teacher education numbers more in line with the needs of schools, and we repeat our calls for an urgent review.”