Pupil and teacher characteristics 2025
Headline statistics on pupil characteristics, class sizes, pupil teacher ratios and teacher characteristics
Part of
Headline statistics
Between 2024 and 2025, the number of pupils across all sectors decreased by 6,505 to 695,923. This was driven by a decrease of 7,023 in primary school pupils. There was a small rise in pupils in secondary (431) and special school pupils (87).
Teacher numbers decreased in the primary sector and for centrally employed teachers but the combined increases in secondary, special and early learning and childcare (ELC) sectors were large enough to result in overall teacher numbers increasing by 63 full-time equivalent (FTE).
The decrease in pupil numbers combined with the increase in teacher numbers, meant that the pupil–teacher ratio (PTR)—a measure of the size of the teaching workforce relative to the pupil population—decreased from 13.3 to 13.2. This means there were fewer pupils per teacher in 2025 compared to 2024.
There was a decrease in both teachers and pupils in the primary sector but the decrease in pupils was relatively greater than for teachers, causing primary PTR to decrease from 15.5 to 15.3. In secondary schools there was an increase in both pupils and teachers, resulting in the secondary PTR remaining around the same at 12.6, the equal highest since 2004.
Figure 1 Publicly funded schools, Scotland, 2019 to 2025
|
Sector |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
2025 |
|
Primary |
2,004 |
2,005 |
2,001 |
1,994 |
1,988 |
1,978 |
1,969 |
|
Secondary |
358 |
357 |
357 |
358 |
361 |
360 |
359 |
|
Special |
114 |
114 |
111 |
109 |
107 |
107 |
107 |
|
Total |
2,476 |
2,476 |
2,469 |
2,461 |
2,456 |
2,445 |
2,435 |
Figure 2 Pupils by sector, Scotland, 2019 to 2025
|
Sector |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
2025 |
|
Primary |
398,794 |
393,957 |
390,313 |
388,920 |
384,725 |
379,354 |
372,331 |
|
Secondary |
292,063 |
300,954 |
306,811 |
309,133 |
313,061 |
315,072 |
315,503 |
|
Special |
7,132 |
7,286 |
7,599 |
7,821 |
7,742 |
8,002 |
8,089 |
|
Total |
697,989 |
702,197 |
704,723 |
705,874 |
705,528 |
702,428 |
695,923 |
Figure 3 Teachers by sector, Scotland, 2019 to 2025
|
Sector |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
2025 |
|
ELC |
798 |
729 |
704 |
734 |
702 |
679 |
696 |
|
School based |
50,477 |
51,663 |
52,593 |
52,422 |
52,221 |
51,593 |
51,676 |
|
Primary |
25,027 |
25,651 |
25,807 |
25,451 |
25,096 |
24,468 |
24,415 |
|
Secondary |
23,522 |
24,077 |
24,782 |
24,874 |
25,049 |
24,988 |
25,067 |
|
Special |
1,927 |
1,934 |
2,005 |
2,097 |
2,075 |
2,138 |
2,195 |
|
Centrally employed |
972 |
1,009 |
988 |
1,037 |
1,111 |
1,140 |
1,103 |
|
Total school (excluding ELC) |
51,449 |
52,672 |
53,581 |
53,459 |
53,331 |
52,733 |
52,779 |
|
Total (including ELC) |
52,247 |
53,400 |
54,285 |
54,193 |
54,033 |
53,412 |
53,475 |
Figure 4 Pupil teacher ratios (PTR) by sector, Scotland, 2019 to 2025
|
Sector |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
2025 |
|
Publicly funded schools |
13.6 |
13.3 |
13.2 |
13.2 |
13.2 |
13.3 |
13.2 |
|
Total based in schools |
13.8 |
13.6 |
13.4 |
13.5 |
13.5 |
13.6 |
13.5 |
|
Primary |
15.9 |
15.4 |
15.1 |
15.3 |
15.3 |
15.5 |
15.3 |
|
Secondary |
12.4 |
12.5 |
12.4 |
12.4 |
12.5 |
12.6 |
12.6 |
|
Special |
3.7 |
3.8 |
3.8 |
3.7 |
3.7 |
3.7 |
3.7 |