Scottish Conservative MSP Jamie Halcro Johnston has highlighted the continued decline in teacher numbers affecting the Highlands and Islands as revealed by Scottish Government figures. Highland has lost another 88 teachers in the past year, and the Western isles have lost 14, an alarming 4% drop. In both cases the pupil to teacher ratio has increased, going from 12.9 pupils per teacher to 13.5 in Highland.
Whilst the Scottish Government has made much of the 0.6% increase in teacher numbers in Scotland over the last year (up just 311 for the whole of Scotland), Scotland remains some 3000 teachers down under SNP maladministration.
The Scottish Secondary Teachers' Association is clearly concerned about the serious impact being caused by teacher shortages: