Pupils forced to travel to study key subjects

Scottish Liberal Democrat education spokesperson Willie Rennie MSP has urged the SNP government to urgently address falling teacher numbers, after research by his party revealed there has been an increase in the number of pupils making multi-mile commutes for lessons in core subjects.

Scottish Liberal Democrat freedom of information requests asked councils about the number of consortia arrangements in place between schools. These arrangements enable pupils to travel to a different school to attend lessons that are not available to them at their own school. Those requests revealed that in 2023/24:

• The number of consortia arrangements between schools increased to 471, up from 399 in 2022/23.  
• The number of pupils affected by these arrangements has also increased, from 1,468 in 2022/23 to 1,599.
• Pupils in Aberdeenshire, Dumfries and Galloway, East Lothian, Orkney, Perth & Kinross, Scottish Borders and South Ayrshire all travelled more than 10 miles to get to lessons.
• Pupils in East Lothian travelled 23 miles to attend lessons in business skills.
• Pupils in Orkney had to travel 16 miles to get to lessons in Advanced Higher Physics, while pupils in Perth and Kinross had to travel 12 miles to get to lessons in Advanced Higher Maths, Advanced Higher Physics and Advanced Higher History.

This month figures showed a decline in teacher numbers across Scotland, despite the SNP promising to hire 3,500 more.

Mr Rennie said:

“The SNP once claimed that education would be their defining mission. Instead, it has become their defining failure. On their watch, young people are having to trek miles and miles to attend lessons in key subjects. These journeys take up huge chunks of the school day, precious time that could be better spent learning or engaging in extracurricular activities.

“There are not enough teachers in key subjects. By failing to promote teaching as a rewarding career, the SNP are denying young people the guidance and support they need, especially in more rural and remote communities. It creates a vicious cycle that diminishes the skills of future generations and undermines teacher recruitment for years to come.

“Scottish Liberal Democrats want to end this crisis, and that’s why we will continue to call for the government to properly resource teachers and staff and to finally guarantee teachers stable contracts they can depend on.”