Current status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 14 September 2021
To ask the Scottish Government how many specialist teaching staff vacancies there are in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools, broken down by local authority area.
The Scottish Government does not hold information on the current number of specialist teaching staff vacancies. The results of the most recent teacher vacancy survey, undertaken in September 2019, are available here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/teacher-vacancy-survey-2016-to-2019/
The number of teachers by subject is shown in Table 3.
The 2016 to 2019 vacancy surveys were jointly administered by the Scottish Government and COSLA. The surveys were suspended in 2020 due to the Covid pandemic. Vacancies are now advertised on “myjobscotland” which allows for easier continual monitoring by local authorities in line with their responsibilities for teacher employment.