How many classroom assistants have been employed in each local authority area in each year since 1999.

Information on the number of classroom assistants in the years 2003-2020 is provided in the following tables. Data on the number of classroom assistants or other support staff from 1999-2002 is not held by Scottish Government.
The variability in categorisation of staff and the definition of full time equivalent means that caution should be taken if making comparisons over time or between local authorities. Full details on the use and comparability of the data are available in the background notes of the statistical publications.
Table 1: 2020 Pupil Support Assistants
- Hours Worked per week
Table 2: 2020 Classroom Assistant and ASN Auxiliary or Care Assistant
- Hours Worked per week
Data on school support staff was collected in the form of hours per week rather than the number of full time equivalent (FTE) staff in 2020. This is because different local authorities have different definitions of ‘full time hours’ so changing to measure hours rather than FTE allows for more accurate comparison between local authorities.
Statistics on hours worked per week of pupil support assistants in 2020 are provided in Table 1.
Management information on hours worked per week hours worked of classroom assistant and ASN auxiliary or care assistant are provided in Table 2.
Table 3: Pupil Supports Assistant
- 2017 to 2020 – FTE
The use of the term 'classroom assistant' varies between local authorities and is sometimes used interchangeably with 'additional support needs auxiliary or care assistant'. Therefore these two categories of school support staff have been combined and reported as 'pupil support assistants' in the published statistics on school support staff since 2017. Statistics on FTE of pupil support assistants for 2017 to 2020 are provided in Table 3.
Since 2017 the categories of classroom assistant and additional support needs auxiliary or care assistant have been published separately as management information and have not been subject to the same level of quality assurance as the published statistics.
Calculations of full time equivalent (FTE) numbers of pupils support assistants for 2020 were published to allow a comparison to be made with data from 2018 and 2019. The data on pupil support assistants published in 2017 is not directly comparable because of changes to the method of estimating FTE in some authorities. Calculations 2020 FTE of classroom assistants and ASN auxiliary or care assistant have not been calculated.
Table 4
- Classroom assistants
- 2003-2019
- FTE
Table 5
- ASN auxiliary or care assistant
- 2003-2019
- FTE
- (part 1)
Statistics and management information on the FTE of classroom assistant and ASN auxiliary or care assistant from 2003 to 2019 are provided in Tables 4 and 5.
Table 1: 2020 Pupil Support Assistants
- Hours Worked per week
Pupil Support Assistant
Aberdeen City
15,750
Aberdeenshire
20,050
Angus
9,300
Argyll & Bute
10,400
City of Edinburgh
32,650
Clackmannanshire
5,150
Dumfries & Galloway
12,900
Dundee City
10,700
East Ayrshire
8,900
East Dunbartonshire
9,050
East Lothian
8,200
East Renfrewshire
6,250
Falkirk
11,700
Fife
29,750
Glasgow City
45,250
Highland
26,800
Inverclyde
9,300
Midlothian
8,900
Moray
8,600
Na h-Eileanan Siar
3,200
North Ayrshire
9,700
North Lanarkshire
23,100
Orkney Islands
1,900
Perth & Kinross
10,050
Renfrewshire
11,450
Scottish Borders
7,250
Shetland Islands
4,450
South Ayrshire
8,300
South Lanarkshire
27,950
Stirling
7,600
West Dunbartonshire
8,100
West Lothian
19,600
All Local Authorities
432,250
Table 1 Source:
School support staff statistics
- gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
Table 2: 2020 Classroom Assistant and ASN Auxiliary or Care Assistant
- Hours Worked per week
Additional support needs auxiliary or care assistant
Classroom Assistant
Aberdeen City
2,750
12,950
Aberdeenshire
20,050
0
Angus
3,650
5,600
Argyll & Bute
7,900
2,550
City of Edinburgh
950
31,700
Clackmannanshire
350