Teachers recruited in England as pupils are bussed miles to school

EDUCATION bosses face recruiting teachers from England or bussing pupils miles every day to combat a classroom staffing crisis.

The General Teaching Council (GTC) for Scotland is fast-tracking applications from south of the Border.

It comes as pupils at one school face being bussed to others 15 miles away or more due to a serious teacher shortage.

GTC Scotland is working with local and national government to try to attract people to a career in the classroom.

A spokesman said: ‘We have introduced increased flexibility to registration processes to help alleviate the current teacher shortage in Scotland. The new policies and procedures ensure we can register applicants more quickly, while ensuring the high teaching standards we require are maintained.

‘We are also fast-tracking applications where a teacher from England has a guaranteed teaching post in Scotland. This means we can get experienced teachers into schools faster.’

The move comes as education bosses in Moray struggle to find teachers for its 53 schools. The local authority is considering shutting classrooms on a temporary basis and transporting children to other schools.

The idea was rejected by councillors last year but has been floated again by council management, who warn there is a ‘high risk’ there won’t be enough staff.

Vacancies have doubled from 167 in 2013 to 333 this year.

A spokesman for teaching union EIS said: ‘Factors such as soaring teacher workload and significant real-terms pay cuts during the enforced austerity period of the past decade have combined to make teaching a less attractive career option for many people.

‘The EIS campaign Value Education, Value Teachers is highlighting these issues, while calling for a 10 per cent pay increase for all teachers in order to help tackle the growing recruitment and retention crisis across Scotland.’

A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘While teacher recruitment is a matter for local authorities, we recognise some areas have faced challenges filling vacancies.

‘We are working closely with Moray Council to address medium and long-term teacher issues.’

Recruiting staff from Ireland, paying other council employees to undertake teacher training and appointing permanent supply teachers are under consideration.

Moray Council will meet tomorrow to discuss the situation.

In a report ahead of the debate, Graham Jarvis, the council’s acting director of education and social care, warned there was a risk the council could fall short of its legal responsibilities for educating children.

He said: ‘The council has taken and continues to pursue all reasonable steps to try to secure teachers and promote teachers to enable quality education to be delivered across Moray.

‘However, this is a national problem and it is not possible to resolve the teacher shortage in Moray, at least in the foreseeable future.’