Fall in Stem teacher numbers ‘extremely troubling’, say Lib Dems

The drop in Stem subject teachers since the SNP took office is “extremely troubling”, the Scottish Liberal Democrats have said.

According to the Scottish Government’s teacher census – released at the end of March – there has been a 24.5% drop in the number of computing studies teachers between 2008 and 2023, from 766 to 578.

In the same period, the number of maths teachers dropped by 11.8%, from 2,787 to 2,456, and technical education teachers fell from 1,345 to 1,192 – an 11.3% decrease.

There was also an 8.2% decrease in the number of physics teachers – from 887 to 814.

Responding to the figures, Lib Dem education spokesman Willie Rennie said: “It’s extremely troubling to see such a sharp decline in Stem subject teachers.

“These subjects open the doors to industries of the future but with so few teachers now specialising in them and no sign of action to encourage more teachers into the workforce, the SNP are creating a vicious cycle that diminishes the skills of future generations and undermines teacher recruitment for years to come.

“Scottish Liberal Democrats want to end this crisis, and that’s why we would bring back principal teachers for every Stem subject, giving young people better access to these subjects, and guarantee teachers stable contracts they can depend on.”

A spokesman for the Scottish Government said: “Local authorities are responsible for the recruitment and deployment of teaching staff.

“The Scottish Government will continue to support them to maximise the number of jobs available in certain subjects, including Stem.

“Since 2008, there have been increases in the number of teachers in biology and general science.

“Our teaching bursary scheme is offering a £20,000 payment to career changers who are looking to undertake graduate teacher training in hard-to-fill Stem subjects – including physics, maths, technical education and computing science.

“We are also providing local authorities with £145.5 million in this year’s budget to protect teacher numbers more widely.”