Why Teachers in Scotland Are Moving to the UAE as UK Teaching Jobs Dry Up
Teachers across Scotland are spending years trapped on supply lists or leaving the country altogether after failing to secure permanent jobs, according to new analysis of government figures, raising fresh questions about workforce planning, funding, and the long-term sustainability of the profession.
Despite repeated warnings from unions and mounting evidence of staff burnout in schools, data shows that most newly qualified teachers in Scotland are no longer moving into permanent roles after completing their probation year.
The situation is particularly severe in primary education, where stable employment has become the exception rather than the norm.
Why UK Teachers Are Moving to the UAE
For Louise Fraser, 24, the decision to leave Scotland was not driven by ambition or adventure, but necessity. Like a growing number of UK-trained teachers, she found herself unable to secure a permanent teaching job at home — pushing her to look overseas for stability.
Originally from Ayrshire, Fraser graduated in 2022 and completed her probation year in a Scottish primary school. Like thousands of others, she expected to move into a permanent post. Instead, months of uncertainty followed, marked by short-term work, limited income, and no guarantee of continuity.
Eventually, she accepted a teaching job in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
“I didn’t move for the lifestyle,” she told BBC Radio Scotland Breakfast. “I moved because I needed job security.”
In Dubai, Fraser found what she could not at home: a permanent contract, predictable income, and the ability to plan her life. But the move came at a cost.
She now wants to return to Scotland to be closer to family and to begin married life — yet fears that doing so may mean the end of her teaching career.
“I’m engaged now, and I want to move back home,” she said. “But I’m genuinely scared about coming back and re-entering this dire job crisis.”
She says the uncertainty has forced her to save aggressively, anticipating long periods of instability if she returns.
“I don’t even know if I’ll still be able to be a teacher in Scotland,” she said. “That’s terrifying, after everything I’ve trained for.”
‘Nine and a Half Years on Supply’
Fraser’s story is far from unique. Another teacher, a fully qualified modern studies specialist who asked not to be named, says he has spent nine and a half years on the supply list.
Over that time, he has moved between short-term contracts, maternity covers, and periods with no work at all — a cycle he describes as financially and emotionally devastating.
“I’ve been working contract to contract for nearly a decade,” he said. “The stress has been relentless.”
The instability eventually pushed him into serious debt.
“I racked up £50,000 in debt and nearly went bankrupt last year,” he said. “There were bills I simply couldn’t pay.”
He claims that on at least two occasions he was told he had successfully secured a post, only to later receive emails informing him the position would instead be filled by a probationer.
“The councils do it to save money,” he said. “The government covers probationer salaries, so experienced teachers like me lose out.”
Last year, he says the situation became unbearable.
“I got myself into such a dark place that I tried to take my own life,” he said. “I never thought a vocation — something I love — would push me there.”
He credits his partner with helping him recover but says the experience has fundamentally changed how he views the profession.
The Scale of the Problem
Scottish government figures for the 2024–25 academic year reveal the depth of the crisis.
A total of 2,294 newly qualified teachers completed their probation year through the Teacher Induction Scheme — the standard route for all new teachers in Scotland.
Of those:
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568 (25%) secured a permanent teaching post
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1,015 moved into temporary or fixed-term contracts
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711 were listed as in “other” roles — largely supply teaching or not working in teaching at all
Primary teachers are disproportionately affected.
In the first year after probation:
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Only 11–12% of primary teachers had a permanent job
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Nearly nine in ten were working temporarily, on supply, or outside the profession
This comes five years after the Scottish government pledged in its 2021 manifesto to employ 3,500 additional teachers to reduce workload pressures and cut maximum class contact time to 21 hours per week.
Teachers in ‘Utter Despair’
The Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) says Scotland remains 4,310 teachers short of the staffing level promised in that pledge.
General secretary Andrea Bradley says the union hears regularly from teachers at breaking point.
“They are limping from one temporary contract to another,” she said. “They are in utter despair.”
Bradley says insecure employment affects far more than finances.
“It impacts them emotionally and psychologically as well,” she said. “A significant number tell us they are considering leaving the profession entirely because they simply cannot afford to live like this.”
At the same time, she says teachers who do have permanent posts are carrying unsustainable workloads.
“Our members are working, on average, a day and a half unpaid each week,” she said.
Bradley argues the contradiction — unemployed teachers alongside exhausted classrooms — highlights systemic failure.
“There is a real funding crisis and a lack of effective collaboration between national and local government,” she said.
Rising Costs, Uneven Demand, and Fewer Permanent Posts
Education Secretary Jenny Gilruth said recent teacher pay deals have made it more expensive for councils to create permanent posts, even as pressure on schools continues to grow.
She told BBC Radio Scotland Breakfast that teachers now cost significantly more to employ than they did just a few years ago.
“We do need to remember that teachers are now much more expensive to employ than they were in 2021,” she said.
Gilruth said the Scottish government has spent more than £800m meeting union pay demands, describing the decision as necessary, but acknowledging the strain it has placed on local authority budgets.
She said £186.5m has been allocated to councils in 2025–26 to help rebuild teacher numbers, with government figures showing a rise of 63 teachers in December, the first increase since 2022.
However, she said the picture varies widely depending on subject and location.
“We are desperate for maths teachers,” she said, adding that in some areas there are more qualified teachers than there are permanent vacancies.
Gilruth also suggested that the pandemic had temporarily changed expectations around where teachers could find work.
“Extra posts created during Covid allowed people to work closer to home,” she said. “That may not be the case now.”
She stressed that completing teacher training does not guarantee a job and said teachers must often apply across multiple councils to secure permanent work. Gilruth accepted that the current situation is “not good enough” and said closer coordination between national and local government is needed.
Local authorities echoed that view. Cosla, which represents Scotland’s councils, said shortages are concentrated in particular subjects and regions.
In areas where there are more teachers looking for work than there are permanent posts, a spokesperson said, councils may only be able to offer temporary contracts or supply work until vacancies arise.
Under Scottish law, local authorities have a statutory duty to ensure the provision of adequate and effective education in their areas.
While that duty does not extend to guaranteeing permanent jobs for individual teachers, education experts say the growing gap between teacher supply and secure employment raises broader questions about workforce planning.
They also question whether current funding and recruitment models are aligned with legal responsibilities to maintain a functioning school system.
An Uncertain Future
For teachers like Louise Fraser, policy explanations offer little comfort. “I love teaching,” she said. “I just want the chance to do it at home.”
As Scotland struggles to reconcile workforce shortages with widespread teacher underemployment, the risk is not only that trained professionals will continue to leave, but that an entire generation may decide the profession is no longer worth the sacrifice.
That uncertainty sits uneasily alongside local authorities’ statutory responsibility to provide effective education, and raises questions about whether current workforce planning is fit for purpose.
