THOUSANDS of vulnerable pupils are bearing the brunt of teacher cuts, new figures show.

Two-thirds of local authorities have reduced the number of staff specifically trained to support pupils with additional support needs (ASN).

Overall, the number of ASN teachers dropped by 13 per cent between 2012 and 2014 - from 3,363 to 2,963.

The decline comes at a time when the number of pupils identified with issues such as dyslexia, autism and emotional and social difficulties is rising.

However, the Scottish Government argued that pupils are now supported by a much wider range of staff because they are being taught in mainstream rather than special schools under the wider policy of inclusion.

The Scottish Children’s Services Coalition, a group of organisations dealing with pupils with complex needs, described the fall as "deeply worrying".

A spokesman said: "Cutting numbers of these specialist staff will only serve to isolate more young people and their families and this is completely unacceptable.

"By reducing the number of these teachers we are preventing many of these vulnerable young people chance of achieving a positive future after leaving school such as further education or employment, meaning that they are not achieving their full potential.

"With accompanying cuts in support to other staff such as educational psychologists and speech therapists we are facing the worrying prospect of a lost generation of young people."

The figures, which were published after a parliamentary question by Scottish Labour MSP Siobhan McMahon, showed 22 of 32 local authorities recorded a fall in ASN teachers.

Some of the biggest decreases in percentage terms were in Aberdeen, the Highlands and the Western Isles where there was a decline of around one-third.

Aberdeenshire, Angus, Edinburgh, Fife, Inverclyde, North Lanarkshire and West Lothian saw declines in the region of 20 per cent while in Glasgow there was a drop of ten per cent from 245 to 220.

Ms McMahon said: “These figures are extremely worrying and highlight yet further failings in our education system by this SNP Government.

"Only two days ago, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon asked us to judge her on her government’s education record which, since 2007, has been a failure.

"These figures will only increase pressure on those dealing with pupils with ASN and further widen the educational attainment gap."

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said schools were seeing improvements in the education of ASN pupils.

She said: "Pupils with additional support needs have been gaining better qualifications at school and have been going into more positive destinations after leaving school every year since 2009/10.

"These figures only represent the number of teachers in Scotland’s schools who have additional support for learning as their main subject.

"In 2014, 95 per cent of children and young people with additional support needs are recorded as learning within a mainstream school and receive support from a wide range of teaching staff across a range of subjects.”

Recent figures show some 20 per cent of the school population - 140,500 pupils - have been identified as having ASN, of whom 62 per cent are boys.

Under the 2004 Education (Additional Support for Learning) Act councils have a statutory requirement to identify, provide for and review the additional support needs of their pupils.

Stephanie Primrose, education spokeswoman for local authority body Cosla warned against drawing “sweeping conclusions” from the statistics.

She said: “The picture is more complex than is being presented. The number of teachers employed in special schools has actually risen since 2010 resulting in a slightly lower pupil teacher ratio in 2014 compared to 2010.

“Mainstream education….. is a team responsibility and teachers, including those without a speciality in additional support needs, will work alongside educational psychologists, health workers and support staff to assist the vast majority of ASN children who attend a mainstream school.”