Teacher vacancies hit deprived areas hardest

MSP calls on SNP to end national recruitment crisis

Every primary school teacher vacancy in Dundee this year is in the most deprived parts of the city, it has been revealed.

Jenny Marra, the Labour MSP for the North-East, quizzed Nicola Sturgeon in Holyrood yesterday over why training places cannot be filled, when the most disadvantaged areas in the city suffer from a lack of teachers.

The SNP leader has said closing the attainment gap is her “top priority”.

Speaking at First Minister’s Questions, Ms Marra said: “Dundee suffered chronic teacher shortages last year. This year vacancies are in primary schools exclusively in the most deprived areas of our city.

“Council officials tell me there is significant under-recruitment to teacher training. Why is this First Minister when it has such an impact on children and their education?”

Ms Sturgeon said her administration is taking steps to address “particular shortages in particular areas”.

“One of the initiatives that have been taken forward in the north east is to help train former oil and gas workers in teaching, to get them into our schools.

“There is a whole range of initiatives under way to make sure we have the right numbers of teachers in our schools.”

There are 9.5 full-time equivalent vacancies for Dundee’s primary schools.

They are at Camperdown, Dens Road, SS Peter and Paul RC, Rowantree, Glebelands, St Vincent’s RC, Hillside and Fintry schools, all of which are in deprived areas of Dundee.

While applicants have been lined up for jobs at some of the schools, they have not yet taken up their positions.

A Dundee City Council spokesman said: “We are making significant progress and the situation has improved greatly from last year.

“The small number of primary vacancies are covered in the main by supply staff to ensure that the curriculum continues to be delivered to a high standard.

“As with councils across the country, the past few years have been a challenging time for teacher recruitment.

“The children and families service closely monitors teacher numbers in all the city’s schools and takes appropriate action to fill vacant posts.”

Councillor Stewart Hunter, Dundee’s education spokesman, paid tribute to the “amazing job” staff at schools have done to “ensure that pupils’ education is not affected” while they try and fill vacancies.