It’s largely a woman’s life in today’s teaching force. Marginally more than three out of four of all teachers are now of the female gender.
Figures for March last year released by the General Teaching Council for Scotland confirm that of 79,345 registered teachers, 24.3 per cent were male and 75.7 per cent female.
Of 40,635 teachers in the primary sector, only 3,714 were men. It was a more even match in secondaries, with 14,980 men and 22,210 women.
The trend was stronger still among the 1,822 probationer teachers in the primary and secondary sectors: 23.2 per cent were male and 76.8 per cent female.
The march of Old Father Time is also confirmed by the 39.4 per cent of teachers in all sectors who were over the age of 51.
Amazingly, 34 teachers who were over the age of 66 were still on the council’s register.