Over a thousand places on secondary teacher education courses have gone unfilled this year with big shortfalls in traditionally hard-to-recruit subjects like maths and physics - but also in modern languages and music.

The official figures published by the Scottish government show that the recruitment target for secondary teacher education courses this year was 4,070 but just 3,044 places were filled, a shortfall of 1,026 or 25 per cent.

On the secondary postgraduate teacher education courses - the most popular route to becoming a secondary teacher in Scotland - around half of places went unfilled, with just 1,002 of the 2,000 places available filled by Scottish university-based teacher education institutions.

Last year 40 per cent of places on the secondary PGDE postgraduate route into teaching went unfilled, fuelling suggestions that teaching is becoming less attractive as a career.

Big shortfall of prospective maths teachers

The figures show that two-thirds of the places available on maths PGDE courses went unfilled. The target was to train 250 maths teachers this year via the PGDE, but just 83 places were filled.

Big gaps in recruitment were also seen for physics (71 per cent of places unfilled) computing (69 per cent of places unfilled); technological education (68 per cent of places unfilled); modern languages (67 per cent of places unfilled); chemistry (66 per cent of places unfilled), and music (65 per cent of places unfilled).

Around half of the places on English PGDE courses were unfilled - the target this year was to recruit 248 English student teachers but just 127 were recruited.

Only the PE PGDE courses hit target this year - the 19 other secondary subjects listed all fell short.

• Background: Almost 40% of places on secondary teaching courses unfilled in 2022
• Related: FM accepts classroom violence is causing new teachers to drop out
• News: More than 550 probationers opt out of induction scheme

The goal this year was to recruit 52 PE student teachers but ultimately 64 were recruited.

The figures follow a Tes Scotland exclusive earlier this month showing high numbers of probationers opting out of the one-year Teacher Induction Scheme.

‘Harsh realities’ of teaching

Last week, first minister Humza Yousaf admitted that the “harsh realities” of teaching could be turning probationers off the job, including increased workload, less support for teachers and pupils, a lack of permanent secure jobs and “rising violence and abuse”.

When it comes to primary teacher education courses, the figures show recruitment to undergraduate primary courses was also below target.

A total of 686 places were filled by October 2023 but the target was 707.

Overall, however, recruitment onto primary teacher education courses exceeded targets thanks to recruitment on to postgraduate courses.

When all routes to becoming a primary teacher were taken into account, 1,803 primary student teachers were recruited against a target of 1,734.

For the latest Scottish education news, analysis and features delivered directly to your inbox, sign up to Tes magazine’s The Week in Scotland newsletter