The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Union’s concerns over unfilled vacancies
Fife members of Scotland’s largest teaching union says it has a number of concerns about the current staffing situation across the region.
After Fife EIS raised the issue earlier this year, publicity officer David Farmer stressed that it had noted efforts by Fife Council to address the shortage but remain unconvinced the problem has been solved.
“The deployment of 140 probationers in primary and 90 probationers in secondary will have plugged some of the gaps,” he said.
“However, that potentially means we are back to square one next summer.
“Furthermore, Fife EIS does have concerns about how many probationers are employed by Fife after their probationary period is over and the time it takes to process such appointments.”
Shelagh McLean, head of education in Fife, maintained officials had not claimed to have solved the issue, but that recent activity had reduced the number of vacancies in Fife.
“However, these numbers are a moving feast as people retire, leave the profession or find jobs in other authorities... while we are recruiting – we can only ever report a snapshot in time,” she noted. “As of today we have two core vacancies in primary schools and 30 in secondary. And 88% of our probationers who applied for a post in Fife have been offered one.”