A total of 325 complaints were made last year, down from 646 in 2014/15 and 566 in 2013/14. The reduction has largely been attributed to a sharp fall in criminal cases involving teachers, according to the GTCS, which investigates complaints.
Only eight teachers were struck off after conduct cases, against 16 the previous year and 11 in 2013/14. However, conduct cases falling short of criminal action rose to 122 from 64 three years earlier.
But the figures showed that complaints from parents increased to 52 in 2015/16 from 30 in 2012/13.
Ken Muir, chief executive of the GTCS, said: “Electronic communication is one of the factors for the rise in complaints because it does make it easier to fire off an email.
“We live in an increasingly litigious society. People are looking for some form of outcome or justice when they have a complaint, which makes them more likely to pursue a complaint with a body like ourselves now than five years ago.
“That’s not a bad thing and we are an open and transparent organisation which exists to uphold teaching standards.”
The GTCS has already announced it aims to cut the duration of cases to three months from next year, amid frustration from teaching unions about the long wait that is often endured before resolution – currently this can be as much as two years.
After the reforms, officials will be able to throw a case out at any point rather than waiting for a committee decision, the GTCS said.
It will also offer teachers the chance to agree to various outcomes without going to a full hearing, ranging from reprimand to removal from the register.
Drew Morrice, assistant secretary of the Educational Institute of Scotland, said: “It has been a significant frustration to the union that some cases have taken many years to be processed.
“For some people the time it takes to get an outcome can be extremely stressful and many teachers experience a degree of mental breakdown during the process.”