‘Pupils unsettled by staff shortage’

A PRIMARY one class at a Dundee school has had five teachers in a single year due to staffing woes.

A parent of a pupil at Barnhill Primary in Broughty Ferry said the changes in teaching staff have been “incredibly unsettling” for their child.

The school’s head teacher, Angela McGechaen, wrote to parents last week about the shortages affecting the school.

There have been several departures while one teacher was unable to return to work after the Easter holidays because of “pregnancy-related complications”.

There are around 450 pupils at Barnhill, with another 60 in nursery.

In her letter to parents, Mrs McGechaen wrote: “As you already know, last term we had quite a few staff absences and vacancies for a number of months. I continue to work closely with Dundee City Council to improve our situation. You will possibly be aware that there is a shortage of teachers across the country.”

She adds a new deputy head teacher is scheduled to start on May 2.

Another departure includes a primary four teacher who had to commute to the school and found “the time spent in traffic to and from school was taking its toll”.

One concerned parent said: “This has been a major issue since the start of the year. Since starting primary one in August our child has had five teachers.

“This has been incredibly unsettling for a child in their first year of schooling and their education has been disrupted and inconsistent.”

A spokesperson for the city council said: “As with councils across the country, this has been a challenging time for teacher recruitment, both for permanent and supply posts.

“The children and families services closely monitors teacher numbers in all the city’s schools and takes prompt action to fill vacant posts but there is no doubt the number of available teachers has reduced this year.

“A considerable amount of work has gone into the recruitment process for permanent and supply teachers in pre-school, primary and secondary settings.”

Councils in Tayside and Fife have spent more than £35 million on supply teachers since 2011 to plug gaps caused by the shortage of teachers.

The issue has hit secondary schools equally hard.

Barnhill Primary