Parent council leaders from all 17 Aberdeenshire secondary schools are demanding action from the Scottish Government on the lack of teachers in the region.
The group says the Teacher Induction Scheme, designed to encourage newly-qualified teachers to take up posts in areas such as Aberdeenshire, is not fit for purpose.
They met with cabinet secretary for education Jenny Gilruth earlier this year to discuss teacher shortages in Aberdeenshire, which the council’s director of education Laurence Findlay told The P&J in December was “reaching crisis point.”
In 2023, Aberdeenshire Council requested 66 newly-qualified teachers under the Teacher Induction Scheme.
It received an allocation of 18 from the Scottish Government, with only 12 starting in August 2023.
For the new school year starting this month, 44 newly-qualified secondary teachers were requested – only 20 were allocated. However, it is expected that just eight will take up posts in Aberdeenshire secondary schools.
Aberdeenshire secondary school teacher shortages so acute that heads and primary teachers are covering classes
Parents are also concerned at the impact of heads and depute heads having to step in as teachers to fill gaps.
A survey by Aberdeenshire Council’s department of education in April showed that more than 150 hours of management time each week are lost in the region’s secondary schools as head teachers and their deputies cover classes due to a lack of teaching staff.
Claire Rennie is chairwoman of Fraserburgh Academy parent council, and organised the meeting with Jenny Gilruth.
She said: “It is hard to determine the exact number of current vacancies in Aberdeenshire secondary schools as head teachers have stopped advertising some posts, and have altered the curriculum to meet the staffing they do have, often removing or reducing valuable elements of the curriculum such as technical, computer studies and home economics.
“Some schools are also having to recruit primary school teachers to teach the S1 and S2 curriculum in key subjects.
“Subjects are not being offered, schools are having to rely on the goodwill of Further Education colleges to bridge the gaps, and management time in schools is being lost as leadership staff are covering teaching classes.”
Aberdeenshire teacher shortage ‘has not been given significant attention by the Scottish Government for many years’
Part of the Teacher Induction Scheme includes what is referred to as the Preference Waiver. This means newly-qualified teachers can opt to be sent anywhere in Scotland for a financial incentive. For secondary school teachers this is a payment of £8,000.
Uptake of this option has fallen for the third year running, with only 155 teachers signing up for the scheme. This is half the number of teachers compared to 2020-21.
Claire said: “The decline in the uptake of the preference waiver scheme in Scotland is very concerning as schools in Aberdeenshire have relied heavily on it in the past to attract teachers.
“We are frustrated that the lack of secondary teaching staff in rural and remote areas has not been given significant attention by the Scottish Government for many years.
“Meaningful action is required urgently in order to resolve the disparity between urban and rural communities.”
Aberdeenshire director of education calls for ‘full review’
An Aberdeenshire Council spokesman confirmed that primary school teachers were being used to cover literacy and numeracy in secondary schools.
Director of education Laurence Findlay said Aberdeenshire’s allocation of newly-qualified secondary teachers from the Scottish Government remained “inadequate”, and called for a “full review” of the situation.
“For the forthcoming school year we requested 44 newly-qualified secondary teachers and were allocated 20,” said Mr Findlay.
“Since that allocation, we now have eight confirmed secondary teachers after some withdrew or moved to a flexible route.
“Cleary this remains inadequate in terms of meeting the needs of our schools – particularly in the key shortage subjects such as maths, English, home economics and technical.
“We have worked with our 17 secondary school parent councils to try and find solutions, and have had meetings with the cabinet secretary to discuss these concerns.
“We believe a full review needs to be undertaken to ensure an adequate supply of teachers to meet current and future demand, and within this, the voice of rural Scotland needs to be heard.”
Scottish Government response
A Scottish Government spokesman said: “The Scottish Government is offering local authorities £145.5 million to protect teacher numbers, supporting children and young people’s education.
“We recognise there is a challenge around the recruitment of teachers in certain geographical areas and in certain subjects.
“It is for this reason that we have manually allocated preference waiver payment (PWP) probationers – which sees probationers receive an incentive of up to £8,000 for opting to be placed anywhere in Scotland.
“It is also important to note that local councils also have the autonomy to provide additional incentives to attract teachers to their area.
“The Strategic Board for Teacher Education is looking at issues around the recruitment and retention of teachers in Scotland in detail. This will include the operation of the Teacher Induction Scheme.”
Conversation