Professor John Robertson OBA
In the Guardian today, the above and:
A key government pledge to appoint 6,500 extra teachers in England by the end of this parliament will be difficult to achieve and is likely to fall short of demand, the UK’s public spending watchdog has warned.
The education secretary Bridget Phillipson’s promise to recruit thousands of extra teachers in state schools, which has been funded by adding VAT to private school fees, forms one of the cornerstones of the government’s education policy.
However, a report by the National Audit Office (NAO), published on Wednesday, warned that a projected increase in secondary schools’ pupil numbers was likely to outpace Labour’s recruitment ambitions, leaving teacher vacancies unfilled. 1
How many teachers are there in England’s state schools?
In 2023, there were 468 693 based on the latest figures.2 New figures for 2024 will be published in June 2025.
With one tenth of the population, all things being equal, you might expect Scotland’s schools to have around 47 000 but they have 52 733, 12.12% more staff.3
Labour’s plan is to add only 1.34% to the total – peanuts?
Why does this matter so much?
Pupil to teacher ratios were lowest in Scotland (13.2 – 12.6 in secondaries and 15.5 in primaries), and similar in Northern Ireland (17.4), England (18.1), and Wales (18.6).4
So, on a daily basis, each teacher in the other parts of the UK is responsible for the learning of 18 pupils while in Scotland, it’s only 13, 5 fewer. Think of the difference in quality for staff and pupils as teachers across rUK face a 38% higher demand for face-to-face attention from pupils.
Why does this ratio matter so much? It’s a bit obvious. Ask any parent but it’s been confirmed by researchers too, globally:
Student-teacher ratios of less than 18:1 are linked to better academic achievement in grades K-3, particularly for students facing socio-economic disadvantages. Smaller class sizes during primary grades yield the greatest gains. Students who spend more years with reduced class sizes and lower ratios experience longer-term benefits. The average student-teacher ratio in the US varies across 36 states, with some requiring ratios as low as 15:1.(!)
Some teachers unions include class size caps in their contracts. Higher ratios and larger classes can also put additional pressure on teachers and cause early burnout. Lower class sizes and ratios also help maintain and support talented teaching staff.
Sources:
- https://www.theguardian.com/education/2025/apr/30/labours-pledge-to-hire-6500-extra-teachers-in-england-will-be-a-challenge-report-says
- https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england/2023
- https://www.gov.scot/publications/summary-statistics-for-schools-in-scotland-2024/pages/school-teachers/
- https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/education-and-training-statistics-for-the-uk/2024
- https://storychanges.com/how-teacher-ratios-are-determined-by-child-development.html
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
THAT WILL BE “WAR” BETWEEN LABOUR AND REFORM AND TORIES
WHO WILL PLACE BETS PROBABLY EVERY UNIONIST
eyes down for the liars and cheats
telling even more lies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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COULD NOT HAPPEN TO A BETTER SHORE OF TOADS
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the fallout from vat on fees hasn’t been seen yet as parents and schools try and mitigate the costs. In future the percentage of children in public sector schools will increase, thus the children in these schools will have even bigger classes.
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You have to be careful comparing student-teacher ratios in Scotland with England.
Many of England’s secondary schools have ‘sixth forms’ where students take A level examinations after 7 years of secondary education for entrance to three year undergraduate degrees. This is a global outlier, as most education systems in the world have the same model as Scotland with 6 years of secondary education and four year undergraduate degrees. The final year of England’s schools is therefore the same as Scotland’s first year of university education or the HNC in a college (or first year of a two year HND qualification). Because the subject matter is more specialist and subject numbers lower than general education, student teacher ratios are much lower than general education ie have more teachers.
To complicate it further, in many parts of England there are self-contained ‘Sixth Form Colleges’ teaching exactly the same A levels as Schools but not part of the school system. Additionally many vocational two year courses that overlap with A levels (and first year Scottish university degree/HNC) are run in vocational colleges that students transfer to out of the school system after five years. There’s even the odd ‘tertiary college’ (I worked in one for a few years) that covers all options post-16.
So you are not comparing like with like if you only look at teachers in what are called ‘maintained schools’ in England with Scottish schools. How that changes the figures, I don’t know for sure – the secondary schools will have an overall lower teacher-student ratio as they include final year sixth form, but the existence of the sixth form/tertiary/vocational colleges outside the school system will increase the teacher-student ratio overall as the specialist/higher level provision is not counted in the School stats but in the College stats.
For the same reason the claims about university education in Scotland being more poorly funded (made recently in The Herald) also need to be taken with a pinch of salt, as Scottish universities contain up to a quarter of undergraduate students who in England would be taught in the lower per capita funded college/school sectors.
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ITS GETTING DIFFICULT NOTICING THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN UNIONISM
THEY all cheat lie and DO DOWN ALL SCOTS
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