Fife teacher shortage solved claims council

Recruitment drive in Northern Ireland helps fill teaching vacancies

A “robust” recruitment process and bringing in teachers from Northern Ireland has helped ease Fife’s teaching crisis, it has emerged.

Concerns were raised earlier this year about the high level of vacancies in the region’s schools with 259 posts said to be unfilled in March – some of which had been vacant for six months.

However, a wide-ranging recruitment drive involving social media, staff redistribution, work with the Scottish Government to secure probationers, and a specific recruitment exercise in Northern Ireland have all contributed to a drastic cut in that number.

It is anticipated that almost all of the vacancies in primary schools will be filled, while efforts to tackle the acute shortage in the secondary sector will continue over the summer.

Fife Council says it has “significantly improved” a teacher shortage that had left some schools struggling to cope.

While the national situation is continuing to have an impact locally, a “robust” recruitment process has resulted in almost all vacant posts in the region’s primary schools filled.

Interviews will continue throughout the summer holidays in a bid to fill any identified vacancies.

In March, the council’s then education spokesman Bryan Poole declared a crisis when it was revealed 259 posts in the region were unfilled and that some of them had been vacant for six months.

Most of those were in science, technology and maths and some pupils had not had a permanent English teacher for the whole of the previous session.

Fife Council co-leader David Alexander said there had since been a significant improvement and added: “Through work to redistribute staffing we anticipate the majority of the vacancies identified in our schools will be filled.

“In the primary sector we will be able to fill all our advertised vacancies.

“In secondary, we will be advertising for 26 posts in mathematics, English, home economics, business education and computing.”

Kevin Funnel, education directorate team manager, said the national teacher shortage continued to impact all 32 local authorities.

“Fife Council has undertaken a robust and wide-ranging recruitment process this year, including advertising widely across the UK and Ireland, carrying out a specific recruitment exercise in Northern Ireland (where there is a surplus of teachers), working with the Scottish Government to secure as many probationer teachers as possible and, in discussions with the General Teacher Council Scotland, to try to streamline the registration process for overseas teachers,” he said.

He said Fife had been given its highest-ever probationer allocation from the Scottish Government this year and confirmed almost all the previously identified vacant posts in primary schools were now filled.

A small number of posts will be advertised during the holiday.

“Within the secondary sector, the national shortage is particularly acute in specific subjects,” he said.

“Our head teachers will continue to advertise and interview during the summer holiday period to fill those identified vacancies.”

Through work to redistribute staff we anticipate the majority of the vacancies identified in our schools will be filled. DAVID ALEXANDER CO-LEADER FIFE COUNCIL