Three years to fix teacher crisis – officials admit

FMQs: Nicola Sturgeon challenged over teacher recruitment and EU membership

The teacher shortage engulfing Scottish education will take three years to resolve, ministers have admitted.

There are nearly 700 vacancies in the country’s schools, Scottish Government officials have said.

Kezia Dugdale blamed Nicola Sturgeon during First Minister’s Questions yesterday for the recruitment crisis, saying she had been distracted by her pursuit of independence.

“The SNP has admitted that it will take up to three years to deal with the teacher shortage in Scotland,” the Scottish Labour leader said.

“But we know that Nicola Sturgeon will spend the next three years campaigning for independence and trying to force another divisive referendum.”

A letter from civil servants to the Scottish Funding Council from this year revealed there are 411 full and part-time vacancies at secondary schools, and 274 at pre-school or primary level.

The government guidance estimated it would take three years to “address” all vacancies. Ms Sturgeon, who was confronted with the figures in the Holyrood chamber yesterday, accepted Scotland has problems with filling classrooms with teachers.

“John Swinney and I and this Government have never shied away from the fact that Scotland – like many countries right now – has an issue with teacher recruitment,” she said.

“That is one of the reasons why we have increased the intake to teacher training, to train more teachers to work in our schools and close the attainment gap.”

She added the SNP was helping headteachers improve performance by directly handing them £120m a year.

Labour’s criticism comes just weeks after a Perthshire headteacher made an intervention in the recruitment crisis.

Bev Leslie, headteacher of Blairgowrie High School, wrote to parents last month asking for those with a “maths or related degree” to help out. She later clarified the request was aimed at registered maths teachers who are not on the local authority’s supply list.

Earlier at FMQs, Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson said the SNP were treating people as “fools” over their EU stance, as previously revealed by The Courier.

SNP MPs, including Angus’ Mike Weir, signed a pledge to keep Scotland free of the Common Fisheries Policy – a cornerstone of Brussels rules. But senior Nationalist figures say they want to stay in the EU.

The FM hit back saying they would seek to change CFP as independent members of the bloc.

She also accused the Tories of “preparing to sell out the fishing industry and use it as a bargaining chip in the negotiations.”

With typical tact and diplomacy Boris Johnson stampeded into the election campaign, refering to Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn as a “mugwump”, a nonsensical term, the origin of which he had no idea.

He also re-stated the discredited claim the UK sends the EU £350 million per week and said parliament could be bypassed if Donald Trump seeks military support in Syria.

It is little wonder the Government’s election strategists have yet to find – or have failed to seek – a role for him.

Picture: Fraser Bremner. First Minister Nicola Sturgeon at FMQs yesterday.