Schools in Scotland 2022: summary statistics

Headline statistics from the annual pupil and school staff censuses and early learning and childcare provision.

This document is part of 2 collections


Classes and pupils

The overall average class size for primary has increased from 23.2 in 2021 to 23.3 in 2022 (Table 16). The average class size for P1-P3 increased from 23.0 to 23.1 between 2021 and 2022. The average class size for P4-7 also increased between 2021 to 2022 from 25.5 to 25.7. Statistics on class sizes in the secondary sector are not collected as class size varies widely across subjects.

Table 17 shows that the number of P1-P3 pupils taught in classes of 26 or more increased from 39,723 in 2021 to 40,441 in 2022. The number of pupils taught in classes of 18 or fewer decreased from 20,328 in 2021 to 20,235 in 2022. However, the reduction in the number of pupils in P1-P3 meant that the proportion of pupils taught in classes of 18 or fewer increased from 12.5% in 2021 to 12.6% in 2022.

Legislation limits class sizes to 25 for P1 pupils and to 30 for P2 and P3, however classes may exceed these limits due the inclusion of one or more ‘excepted pupils’ (see background notes for more information).

In 2022 the number of P1 pupils in classes of 26 or more was 409; this was an increase from 293 in 2021. In 2022, there were 17 classes with 26 or more pupils and at least one P1 pupil, compared to 12 such classes in 2021 (data not shown).

Table 19 shows that the percentage of P1-P3 pupils in classes of 18 or fewer varied considerably between local authorities and years. One of the main reasons for this was the differing number of small schools between local authorities.

Table 20 shows pupils broken down by characteristics used in equalities monitoring. In 2022, 81.2% of pupils were recorded as being White-Scottish or White-other British. The next largest proportions of ethnic backgrounds were White-Other (3.6%), White-Polish (2.4%), Asian Pakistani (2.1%) and mixed (1.7%).

The number of pupils identified with additional support needs (ASN) has increased markedly since 2010 and there continue to be year on year increases (see table 1.5 of the supplementary tables). These increases were likely due in part to continued improvements in recording and the introduction of the additional need types 'Child plans' and ‘Other’ in 2011.

There were 241,639 pupils (34.2% of all pupils) with an additional support need (ASN) recorded in 2022. This was an increase of 1.2 percentage points on 2021 (232,753 pupils with an ASN record, 33.0% of all pupils).

Statistics on additional support needs include pupils in special schools and those in mainstream schools who are assessed or declared disabled, or have a Co-ordinated Support Plan (CSP), Individualised Education Programme (IEP), Child Plan or another type of support. Pupils may have more than one type of ASN, therefore the totals for ASN do not equal the sum of individual types of ASN.

Table 16: Average class size of primary school pupils by stage

Stage

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

P1

21.2

21.0

20.9

21.0

20.8

20.9

20.9

P2

24.0

23.9

23.9

23.9

23.8

23.7

23.8

P3

24.7

24.7

24.6

24.7

24.2

24.4

24.5

P4

26.0

26.0

25.7

25.7

25.3

25.3

25.5

P5

26.1

26.1

26.1

26.0

25.5

25.6

25.7

P6

26.0

26.1

26.0

26.0

25.5

25.6

25.7

P7

25.8

25.9

26.0

25.9

25.6

25.5

25.7

P1-P3

23.3

23.2

23.2

23.2

22.9

23.0

23.1

P4-P7

26.0

26.0

25.9

25.9

25.5

25.5

25.7

Primary

23.5

23.5

23.5

23.5

23.1

23.2

23.3

Note 1: Data refers to the average class size of pupils in each stage, not the average class size of single stage classes. The total primary average class size is calculated on a different basis to all the other class sizes shown, see background notes for details.

Table 17: P1-P3 pupils by class size

Class Size

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

0 - 18

21,906

20,997

20,613

20,591

22,899

20,328

20,235

19 - 25

104,517

106,023

104,453

103,326

100,948

102,233

99,925

26 - 30

45,486

44,340

44,362

43,410

39,874

39,626

40,250

31 or more

807

625

350

224

190

97

191

% in classes of 18 or fewer or in two teacher classes of 36 or fewer

12.7

12.2

12.1

12.3

14.0

12.5

12.6

Note 1: The percentage of P1-P3 pupils in classes of 18 or fewer includes two-teacher classes with 36 or fewer. Classes taught by two teachers at all times are treated as two classes of half the size.

Table 18: P1 pupils by class size

Class size

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

0 - 18

11,737

11,925

11,326

11,393

12,570

11,017

10,936

19 - 25

45,102

44,195

43,254

43,525

40,551

41,724

40,906

26 or more

698

631

511

267

188

293

409

Table 19: P1-P3 pupils in classes of size 18 or fewer or in two teacher classes with a pupil teacher ratio of 18 or fewer (percentage)

Local Authority

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

Aberdeen City

11.0

13.0

9.9

13.5

12.8

5.7

8.7

Aberdeenshire

14.7

17.7

16.0

20.0

18.6

15.0

13.1

Angus

19.6

16.5

20.1

19.2

17.7

18.2

16.7

Argyll and Bute

27.2

27.1

34.6

28.5

39.1

37.9

42.1

City of Edinburgh

5.7

6.0

5.2

4.5

6.0

5.8

5.3

Clackmannanshire

19.7

14.1

11.8

16.5

13.1

12.9

13.5

Dumfries and Galloway

17.1

22.0

20.2

17.7

16.8

13.9

17.6

Dundee City

2.6

4.4

3.1

5.9

7.1

6.3

10.0

East Ayrshire

11.1

9.9

8.3

12.0

17.0

17.8

12.8

East Dunbartonshire

12.9

10.3

10.5

9.3

10.1

8.1

12.6

East Lothian

4.2

6.5

8.8

6.1

12.2

10.7

15.0

East Renfrewshire

16.5

12.6

11.9

18.3

9.5

13.6

9.6

Falkirk

5.6

7.9

8.8

10.6

15.2

14.1

8.6

Fife

20.8

11.6

7.1

3.7

7.1

4.1

4.8

Glasgow City

4.2

5.5

6.5

8.0

10.9

9.7

9.2

Highland

19.1

18.1

18.8

16.7

21.0

20.5

22.2

Inverclyde

6.5

5.0

6.1

8.0

4.8

7.1

10.6

Midlothian

16.7

11.2

16.2

9.4

11.4

8.3

13.7

Moray

8.0

8.1

9.0

11.0

9.0

15.3

14.6

Na h-Eileanan Siar

57.8

52.3

56.4

60.4

55.3

65.9

57.4

North Ayrshire

13.0

9.9

10.9

16.4

14.6

11.9

17.0

North Lanarkshire

9.8

11.4

8.9

9.4

13.7

13.3

11.2

Orkney Islands

19.8

24.7

24.8

30.6

36.8

31.8

26.9

Perth and Kinross

14.7

11.0

11.8

16.7

17.5

17.9

17.9

Renfrewshire

13.3

14.4

16.1

13.7

15.4

12.2

11.1

Scottish Borders

10.3

14.4

12.5

10.6

13.0

10.8

10.7

Shetland Islands

33.9

32.2

36.2

31.3

46.7

42.1

34.3

South Ayrshire

19.5

20.1

15.4

14.1

19.2

16.2

17.3

South Lanarkshire

15.5

16.8

19.2

18.1

16.9

12.1

11.3

Stirling

14.9

11.3

10.0

13.9

17.0

11.6

13.5

West Dunbartonshire

16.2

14.0

19.2

15.7

16.4

21.8

15.7

West Lothian

16.3

14.7

17.1

13.6

17.1

17.4

19.4

Scotland

12.7

12.2

12.1

12.3

14.0

12.5

12.6

Note 1: The statistics for Scotland include one grant-aided mainstream school.

Table 20: Pupil ethnicity by sex

 

Female

Male

Total

Total Pupils

345,644

360,230

705,874

Ethnicity

     

White - Scottish

258,319

268,796

527,115

White - Other British

22,187

23,532

45,719

White - Irish

728

767

1,495

White - Polish

8,323

8,774

17,097

White - Gypsy/Traveller

703

766

1,469

White - Other

12,388

12,991

25,379

Mixed

6,081

5,990

12,071

Asian - Indian

4,102

4,212

8,314

Asian - Pakistani

7,395

7,632

15,027

Asian - Bangladeshi

708

730

1,438

Asian - Chinese

2,602

2,640

5,242

Asian - Other

2,569

2,650

5,219

Caribbean/Black - Scottish/British

483

472

955

Caribbean/Black - Other

270

300

570

African - Scottish/British

3,659

3,603

7,262

African - Other

2,591

2,660

5,251

Arab

2,154

2,354

4,508

Other

2,470

2,707

5,177

Not known

6,223

6,778

13,001

Not disclosed

1,689

1,876

3,565

Table 21: Pupils with additional support needs (ASN) and English as an additional language by sex

 

Female

Male

Total

Total Pupils

345,644

360,230

705,874

English as an Additional Language

25,876

28,368

54,244

Additional Support Needs (ASN)

     

CSP (Co-ordinated Support Plan)

537

864

1,401

IEP (Individualised Education Programme)

10,591

22,307

32,898

Child Plans

18,125

31,075

49,200

Assessed/Declared Disabled

6,511

13,043

19,554

Other

86,927

109,374

196,301

All pupils with ASN

103,456

138,183

241,639

All pupils with ASN (excluding Other type)

28,629

50,777

79,406

Note 1: Statistics for English as an Additional Language do not include grant-aided special schools as this information is not collected for these pupils. There were 132 pupils at grant-aided special schools in 2022.

Note 2: See the background notes for further information on what the other category includes.

Note 3: Pupils may have more than one type of ASN, therefore the totals for ASN may not equal the sum of individual types of ASN.

Contact

Email: school.stats@gov.scot

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