The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
It may take three years to fill vacancies – report
Politics: Crisis is ‘result of SNP rule’
Aberdeen’s teacher vacancy crisis may continue until 2020, new documents have revealed.
Teacher vacancies in the Granite City hit a record high of 137 last month, up from 86 when a crisis summit on the issue was held in January last year.
Now Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale has uncovered Scottish Government documents showing plans to fill teacher vacancies in Scotland are being planned for over a three-year period.
The document states: “This teacher vacancy information has been built in to the statistical modelling process with a view to attempting to address all primary vacancies in one year and using a phased approach over three years for secondary.”
Speaking at first minister’s questions, Ms Dugdale said: “A decade of SNP government has resulted in a teacher recruitment crisis in Aberdeen and across Grampian.
“I can reveal today the government’s own internal documents admit it could take up to three years to fill those vacancies. If the SNP had been focused on the day job rather than campaigning for independence, our schools would have the resources and support they need.”
But Ms Sturgeon insisted education remained her number one priority.
She said: “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.
“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.
“Kezia Dugdale might not want to listen to this, but that is why in 201718 we are making resources available to train an additional 371 teachers, and it is why the General Teaching Council for Scotland has a number of initiatives under way to encourage people back into teaching and to encourage new people into teaching.”
A Scottish Government spokesman said: “Thanks to our commitment of £88million, and to our work with local authorities, there was an increase in the number of teachers by 253 across the country this year and a 19% increase in PGDE applications to Scottish universities.
“We also recently announced an additional £3million in funding to train an extra 371 teachers next year, which will bring the total intake at Scotland’s teacher education universities to 3,861 – a rise for the sixth consecutive year.
“We also recently announced a new teacher recruitment campaign, ‘Teaching Makes People’, that builds on the success of last year’s ‘Inspiring Teachers’ campaign.”
“Three years to clear up the mess the SNP has made”