Around half of the places on the postgraduate route into secondary teaching – the most common pathway into secondary teaching in Scotland – went unfilled this year.

Meanwhile, new primary teachers who have just completed their probation are struggling to get permanent jobs. The latest official figures show that fewer than one in five (16.6 per cent) had a permanent post – either full-time or part-time – the September after becoming fully qualified.

Despite these issues, the Scottish government has decided that recruitment targets for teacher education institutions should remain unchanged for 2024-25.