Professor John Robertson OBA
Thanks to Julie and Jacob for alerting us to this:
Scottish Labour clearly think that they can make hay with Further Education funding in Scotland as they languish in third place, according to the polls for the 2026 Scottish Election in May. They’ve wheeled out their Westminster MPs to fight the cause in constituencies where even those who voted for them won’t recognise them.
The Ayrshire, Carrick and Cumnock MP, Elaine Stewart, famous as a lifetime campaigner against poverty until Sir Keir’s whip ordered her to vote for his child poverty policies. She did. Here she is, above, trying to make a case for the Scottish Government under-resourcing FE. It doesn’t survive a collision with the evidence.
First estimated overall spending for 2025/2026 on FE in England is £13.4bn.1 That’s £228.6 per head. There is no precise figure published for England. For Scotland, it’s £1.56bn.2 That’s £284.9 per head, thus 24.6% higher in Scotland.
Second, as a consequence of the above funding the pupil-teacher ratio in Scotland at 13.2/1 is far better than that in in England at 18/1.3
Third, FE student numbers in Scotland have been increasing, from 222 860 in 2020/2021 to 274 965 in2022/2023.4 2024/2025 data are not yet available.
Fourth, an astonishing 95.2% in Scotland’s FE colleges were satisfied with their college experience.5
Sources:
- https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/main-supply-estimates-2025-to-2026
- https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-budget-2025-2026/
- https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/education-and-training-statistics-for-the-uk/2024
- https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/education-and-training-statistics-for-the-uk/2024
- https://www.sfc.ac.uk/publications/student-satisfaction-and-engagement-survey-2024-25/
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
It is because many Scots, historically, have used the FE route into higher education later in life that the unionists and their media mouthpieces have often criticised Scotland because the numbers going directly into HE from school are or have slightly lower than elsewhere. They ignore the fact that the numbers from any age cohort in Scotland eventually going to university have consisted been greater.
The Scottish Government somewhat blunted that attack line by focussing on ‘positive destinations’ of school leavers. Fewer young Scots are ‘not in employment, education or training (NEET)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Or, more young Scots are in NEET…
LikeLike
Why is Scotland so cursed by having the bunch of political hypocrites among British Labour Party politicians currently sitting in Westminster and Holyrood??
National Education Union Wales (NEU Cymru), the largest education union in Wales, hads an article soon its website (dated 28 September, 2025) entitled: ‘The ongoing funding crisis in education in Wales’.
(See https://neu.org.uk/latest/press-releases/ongoing-funding-crisis-education-wales )
It includes the following: ‘NEU Cymru, Wales’s largest education union, is concerned about the ongoing funding crisis in education in Wales, with pupils in Wales receiving up to £400 per annum less than pupils in England. Whilst the Welsh government are somewhat restricted by monies they receive from the government in Westminster, the system used to fund schools and colleges is seriously flawed.
‘NEU Cymru is calling on the Welsh government to direct the local authorities to ring fence school funding to ensure that it is spent on education. NEU Cymru also want to engage with all major political parties to encourage them to push the UK government for increased funding for all schools and colleges in Wales.’ (my emphasis)
LikeLiked by 3 people