Primary and Secondary Schools (Hansard, 18 March 1980)

§ Mr. John MacKay
asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list (a) primary and (b) secondary school rolls at the start of session 1979–80, and the projected rolls for future years.

§ Mr. Alexander Fletcher
Provisional figures at September 1979 indicate that there were 545,223 pupils in education authority primary schools, and 410,226 pupils in education authority secondary schools.
Projections for future years suggest that the number of children in primary schools is likely to fall to 445,000 in 1985–86, rising to about 560,000 by the end of the century. The number of pupils in secondary schools is likely to fall to 288,000 in 1991–92, rising to about 350,000 by the end of the century.

§ Mr. John MacKay
asked the Secretary of State for Scotland how many (a) primary and (b) secondary school teachers qualified from colleges of education in 1978, 1979; and what are the projected numbers for 1980 and future years.

§ Mr. Alexander Fletcher
The following table sets out the information available:

Primary Secondary

1977–78 1,671 1,691

1978–79 1,084 1,720^*

1979–80 800† 1,950†

^*Including 98 students who successfully completed additional mid-session courses of secondary training at Hamilton and Notre Dame Colleges in December 1979.

†These figures are estimates based on the numbers of students in their final year of pre-service teacher training.

The output of newly qualified teachers in the years beyond 1980 will be dependent on decisions about future intake to courses of teacher training which have not yet been taken.

	Primary	Secondary
1977–78	1,671	1,691
1978–79	1,084	1,720^*
1979–80	800†	1,950†
^*Including 98 students who successfully completed additional mid-session courses of secondary training at Hamilton and Notre Dame Colleges in December 1979.
†These figures are estimates based on the numbers of students in their final year of pre-service teacher training.