Summary of registration year 2025-26

Overall, our data shows a large, relatively stable but slowly declining Register, with particular pressure points in secondary subject areas, early-career retention, movement from provisional to full registration, and reasons for leaving beyond retirement.

• At 31 March 2026, there were 80,560 individuals with 92,419 registrations, down 0.72% and 0.91% respectively from 2024-25. There are a greater number of registrations than registered individuals as some teachers are registered in more than one category of registration.
• The longer-term trend is a gradual reduction. Registrants have fallen by 1.64% since 31 March 2023, while registrations have fallen by 2.44%, suggesting teachers are holding fewer registrations.
• Qualified outside Scotland applications have reduced, with 793 individuals applying and 787 applications assessed in 2025–26. Of those completing the full process, 80% were offered registration.
• Applications from those qualified in Scotland also fell, particularly for school education, with an 8% reduction compared with 2024–25.
• Transitions from provisional to full registration are falling with fewer teachers moving to full registration than in the previous two years.
• Most registrants are under 46, with 59% under 46, 24% aged 46–55, and 16% over 55.
• Registration categories show different trends:
  
  • Primary Education registrations decreased slightly.
  • Secondary registrations decreased, with notable subject declines in Computing Science, German, and Economics.
  • Additional Support Needs and Further Education registrations increased.
• Further Education is growing, with registrations up around 4.8% in 2025–26 and over 9% across 2023–26.
• Gaelic registration remains very small and broadly static, with 131 Gaelic secondary subject registrants and 365 registrants self-declaring that they can deliver Gaelic Medium Education.
• Most registrants continue to work in Scottish local authorities, though employer data is self-declared and incomplete.
• Leaving the Register is mainly driven by retirement. Among survey respondents, 63% left due to retirement, consistent with the previous year.
• Early-career and provisionally registered leavers raise concerns about support, workload and securing posts. For early-career respondents to our survey, “other reasons” were most common, including difficulty securing posts, stress and workload.
• A significant minority of teachers reported workplace harm before leaving the Register. 17% of respondents said they had experienced harassment, bullying, racism or other discrimination in the 12 months before leaving.

GTC Scotland Recommendations

We continue to call for a national teacher supply strategy that provides a coherent, evidence-led plan for anticipating the teachers Scotland’s education system will need, where they will be needed, and how they will be recruited, supported and retained. This work must be embedded within wider education reform, ensuring that workforce planning is not reactive or fragmented, but forward-looking, strategic, and aligned with the needs of learners, schools and communities.

Taken together, the following recommendations call for targeted action to be taken to remove barriers to teaching being seen as an attractive career, while ensuring the education system has the teachers it needs, where they are needed most.

GTC Scotland recommends the following:

1. Focus on teacher retention
2. Increase teacher mobility
3. Hold firm on high teaching standards
4. Understand our system’s nuanced requirements and where the gaps are
5. Deeply consider system structures