£20k carrot to attract teachers

CAREER changers who are willing to retrain as science, technology and maths teachers will be handed bursaries of £20,000 in a desperate bid to tackle Scotland’s recruitment crisis.

John Swinney yesterday revealed his latest efforts to attract teachers after it was revealed there are more than 700 vacancies in schools across the country.

The Deputy First Minister’s announcement will mean that people looking to switch careers and move into teaching science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) subjects in schools will receive the bursary while they retrain.

He claimed these subjects were ‘crucial, not just to the education of our children but the future of our economy’.

Mr Swinney added: ‘We need to recruit more teachers in these subjects. To do that, we need to reach beyond recent graduates and attract people who have the appropriate subject degree but are working in business or industry.

‘These “career changers” still need to go through initial teacher education – we will never compromise on quality – but we can make it easier for them to make that career change.

‘We understand that giving up a salary for a year while they do their teacher training is a real barrier for them.

‘I can therefore announce today that from next year we will offer bursaries of £20,000 per person to help these career changers make that change.’

It is understood that ministers hope to attract up to 100 applicants at a total cost of £2million to taxpayers – but according to sources, there will be no upper limit on applications, so the figure could soar.

Although the move has been welcomed, critics insist that if the SNP had taken action earlier, schools would not be facing the present day problems.

Figures show that more than 4,000 teaching jobs have been axed since the SNP took over at Holyrood a decade ago.

Mr Swinney, also Education Secretary, opened the SNP conference in Glasgow by telling members that the party will give its ‘relentless focus’ to improving schooling.

But Scottish Conservative education spokesman Liz Smith said: ‘We very much welcome this conversion of John Swinney to another Scottish Conservative policy.

‘We first called for this in 2013. Had the SNP moved then, perhaps our schools would not have been facing the STEM teacher crisis we have today.’