Equality Impact Assessment for Teaching Bursary Scheme in Scotland

Key Findings

The Scottish Government is mindful of the three needs of the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) - eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation, advance equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not and foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not.

Data

The Teacher Census (Summary Statistics for Schools in Scotland, published December 2025) and the Teaching Bursary evaluation reports published by Skills Development Scotland was used for any key data required in considering protected characteristics of age and gender – especially gender as 77% of the existing secondary school teacher workforce is female.

Age

The key purpose of the scheme is to enable individuals to undertake a one-year PGDE in an ITE course in Scotland that leads to the award of registered teacher status in the hardest to fill STEM, Gaelic and Modern Language subjects. In our discussions to develop a definition of individuals for the bursary criteria we were mindful to avoid either direct or indirect discrimination in relation to age.

The average (mean) age of schoolteachers in 2025 was 41. This is the same as in 2015, so the teacher workforce was, on average, around the same age in 2025 as in 2015.

Since the bursary scheme was introduced in 2018, the 25-40 age group is the most common for the bursary, followed by 41-50.

Including exceptions, applicants ordinarily need to have been out of full-time education since 30th September 2024.

The purpose of this to ensure that the scheme attracts individuals who are pursuing a career, rather than candidates who are looking to continue their education.

Race

We are not aware of any evidence that indicates the Teaching Bursary criteria could impact positively or negatively on this protected characteristic. There has been a slight increase in the number of minority ethnic teachers working within Scotland’s schools from 987 in 2023 to 989 in 2024 (1.9% of the workforce in both years).

It could advance equality of opportunity and foster good relation by bringing people into teaching.

The criteria for the scheme has been developed in line with the SAAS residency criteria for funding.

Disability

We are not aware of any evidence that indicates the Teaching Bursary criteria could impact positively or negatively on this protected characteristic. Anecdotal evidence does however indicate that disabled people may be less able to accept part time employment to support themselves during full-time courses. The bursary could advance equality of opportunity by encouraging disabled people to enter teaching and may also foster good relations by increasing workforce diversity.

It therefore seems likely that the bursary could have a positive impact in attracting disabled professionals with to undertake a career change into the teaching profession. Students will apply for PGDE courses in the normal way through existing university processes.

Sex

There is currently a gender imbalance in the teaching profession and marked differences in the characteristics of the primary and secondary.

The teaching bursaries apply to the hardest to fill subjects and will apply equally to any eligible individual regardless of gender. We are not aware of any evidence that indicates the Teaching bursary criteria could impact positively or negatively on this protected characteristic as the criteria applies to all individuals. However, as people with caring responsibilities are predominantly women and are less likely to be able to work to support themselves during full-time study, it seems likely that the bursary could advance equality of opportunity for female candidates. We are not aware of any evidence that indicates the Teaching Bursary criteria could impact negatively on this protected characteristic.

Sexual Orientation

We are not aware of any evidence that indicates the Teaching Bursary criteria could impact positively or negatively on this protected characteristic.

Religion or belief

We are not aware of any evidence that indicates the Teaching Bursary criteria could impact positively or negatively on this protected characteristic.