The biggest cuts to Scotland’s teacher numbers are in local authorities led by SNP councillors and have been made in defiance of Nicola Sturgeon’s recruitment drive, The Times can reveal.
Nine SNP-led authorities reduced teacher numbers last year, including the nationalist stronghold of Dundee. Only two had an overall increase.
The revelation prompted mockery of the first minister’s 2015 pledge that she wanted her time in office to be judged by how she had improved education.
The analysis flew “in the face of Nicola Sturgeon’s claims that education is the number one priority for the SNP government”, Stephen Kerr, education spokesman for the Scottish Conservatives, said.
