More funding announced to recruit an extra 1,000 teachers in Scotland
Money will also be allocated for 500 teaching assistants
Money to recruit up to 1,000 new teachers and 500 teaching assistants has been announced by the Scottish Government.
An additional £50 million will be available for teacher recruitment in the coming academic year as schools prepare to return to full-time face-to-face teaching.
The Government has also said it plans to provide a ring-fenced £65.5 million permanent fund each year to allow councils to employ the new staff on permanent contracts.
In 2020, teacher numbers rose by 1,153 to reach 53,400, according to Scottish Government figures, made up of 25,651 primary teachers, 24,077 secondary teachers and 1,934 in dedicated special needs schools.
A further 1,009 were centrally employed and 729 were employed in early learning centres.
Ministers had pledged to recruit an extra 1,400 to support the recovery of education during the pandemic and to allow for smaller class sizes.
At every stage, there was a reduction in class size, with an average 23.1 pupils per class in 2020, down from 23.5 in 2019 in Scotland.
The total number of pupils rose by 4,208 to 702,197, with 393,957 in primary schools, 300,954 at secondaries and 7,286 at special needs schools.
Published: by Radio NewsHub