Schools hit by shortfall of hundreds of teachers
SCHOOLS are struggling to fill hundreds of teaching posts even though the new term has already started.
A survey of teaching vacancies carried out by The Scottish Mail on Sunday last week showed an alarming number of schools with unfilled posts.
We found that on Tuesday there were 722 educational jobs being advertised by councils – among them 95 head and deputy headteacher posts.
Despite a recruitment drive that included Ireland and Canada, Scottish local authorities were still short of 157 primary teachers and 214 secondary teachers.
Adverts on council websites across the country showed there were still 21 subject principal teachers needed in secondary schools. There were also 22 jobs advertised in special schools and 62 for supply teachers.
In addition there were 85 jobs for other educational staff, such as psychologists and admin.
Scottish Tory education spokesman Liz Smith said: ‘These statistics show how worrying the situation is especially as there are still hundreds of vacancies to be filled at the start of a school session.
‘Recent reports confirm the extent of the pressures on teacher recruitment and why so many teachers are worried about increasing workloads and additional responsibilities such as the burden of being a named person.’
Larry Flanagan, of the Educational Institute for Scotland teaching union, said: ‘Teacher recruitment at all levels is a challenge in many parts of Scotland. This is a consequence of the severe workload demands and a significant decline in real-term salaries.’
Our research found Aberdeenshire had the most education vacancies – 68 in total. Moray came second, with 61, followed by Edinburgh and South Lanarkshire with 56 and 53 respectively.
Across the country’s primary schools, there are 62 vacancies for head teachers, 14 for deputies, 157 for class teachers and 35 assistants.
In secondary schools there seven vacancies for heads, 12 for deputies and 21 for subject principals. Councils are also seeking 214 secondary teachers and 26 assistants.
A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘We are spending £88 million this year to make sure every school has access to the right number of teachers. Nationally the number of posts needing filled is less than 2 per cent of the workforce.’