Teacher recruitment issues

Hundreds of teacher vacancies in Perth and Kinross - including some in the Strath - have been readvertised over the last three years as schools struggle to fill posts.

Perth and Kinross Council needed to re-advertise 113 positions in 2016/ 17, 108 in 2015/ 16 and another 14 within three months in 2014/15.

The local authority said it was unable to provide an accurate figure for readvertisments for the whole of 2014/15 as a new system was introduced within that period.

The figures came to light following a Freedom of Information enquiry by the Scottish Liberal Democrats.

Vacancies in the Strath included a principal teacher at Madderty Primary and an “area support teacher” for Crieff and Auchterarder.

A spokesperson for the Scottish Government said that teacher recruitment was a matter for local authorities but that they had invested £88million in 2017 resulting in over 540 more teachers.