Exclusive:SNP told universities they could 'over-recruit' student primary teachers despite job shortages

The Scottish Government told universities they could “over-recruit” student primary teachers despite chronic job shortages in schools, it can be revealed.

Emails show how officials were keen to “reassure” universities, and offered institutions “flexibility” on student places to soften a financial blow.

The memos have been highlighted by the campaign group, Scottish Teachers for Permanence, which is fighting for greater job security and stability for the profession.

The Scotsman revealed earlier this month that targets for training new primary school teachers could be slashed by up to a fifth in Scotland from next year amid growing concerns about the number of staff struggling to find jobs.

Officials have been discussing a reduction of between 10 per cent and 20 per cent over the next two years.

Data for last year shows just 16.6 per cent of new primary teachers had a permanent job in the September after becoming fully qualified. There have been reports of job adverts attracting hundreds of applications in some areas.

Now it has emerged the Government gave universities the go-ahead to exceed official targets for recruiting students to the PGDE [Professional Graduate Diploma in Education] Primary courses in 2023/24.

An email from February 2023, released under Freedom of Information (FOI) laws, shows how an official in the Government’s education workforce unit described the move.

They wrote: “The official target for 2023/24 will be 955, however, there will be no clawback applied when a university over-recruits against the modelling of 967 provided by SCDE [Scottish Council of Deans of Education].”

The official added: “I hope this reassures SCDE that we continue to support ITE [initial teacher education] providers in adjusting to the decrease in PGDE Primary targets.”

Further documents from May last year show that concerns were raised about the University of the Highlands and Islands facing “staffing cuts” because it was being allocated 65 full time Primary PGDE places, when it expected 75 plus ten part time.

A Scottish Government official responded: “The agreement we made with SCDE was for a higher target before any penalty was introduced. This allows UHI to recruit 75 FTE rather than 65 before any penalty. This flexibility was to reduce the financial impact from the reduction.”

Teachers have been struggling to find permanent jobs in Scotland. Credit: AFP via Getty Images | AFP via Getty Images

Scottish universities have faced a severe spending squeeze in recent years, as a result of Government funding cuts, falling international student numbers and inflation.

A spokesperson for Scottish Teachers for Permanence said: “While there are definite shortages in certain secondary subjects, it appears that universities have become reliant on the funding from ITE places, regardless of workforce planning needs.

“Universities should not be financially motivated to take on more students than needed, as this has created an impossible job market for qualified teachers amidst a background of local authority cuts.”

Official figures for 2023/24 show that a total of 1,803 student primary teachers were given places, despite the target being 1,734. The PGDE course was the most popular route, with 1,043 entering against a target of 955.

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “The Scottish Government is doing everything it can to help maximise the number of teaching jobs available. To support this, we are making £145.5 million available to local authorities to help protect teacher numbers.

“Last year the intake targets for primary PDGE were reduced by 200 in recognition of the challenges some primary teachers are having in securing permanent contracts. To support universities to adapt to these changes, an exception was made to allow some flexibility in enforcing targets which saw an over recruitment of a very small number (12) of additional students for 2023.

“Ministers are currently reviewing advice on the number of places which should be allocated to ITE providers for next academic year."