Scores of teaching posts across the north and north-east were vacant at the end of the summer term, new figures show.
Some 24 primary head teacher positions also remained unfilled throughout the region at the end of June, accounting for almost 50% of all vacancies in Scotland.
The recruitment crisis appeared to be most acute in Aberdeenshire where there were 90 vacancies for primary teachers and 30 in secondary schools. The local authority was also looking to recruit six primary head teachers.
However, a council spokeswoman has confirmed 20 primary teachers have been recruited since the figures were obtained by the Scottish Conservatives.
She also said 115 primary and 45 secondary probationers would begin teaching in Aberdeenshire next week.
Councillor Alison Evison, chairwoman of the authority’s education committee, said officers had been “very creative and imaginative” in trying to deal with the issue.
She added: “I think it’s just a reflection of the high costs of living in the north-east.
“If we have more people training in the area in the first place, I think it would absolutely be of benefit as well. Lots of figures show people tend to stay in the area where they have trained.”
Craig Clement, the council’s head of education for resources and performance, highlighted measures aimed at attracting staff including a relocation package worth up to £8,000 and the distance learning diploma in primary teaching programme (Dlite).
In Aberdeen, there were 10 vacancies for primary school head teachers at the end of the school year, only one of which has since been filled.
There are currently also vacancies for 34 primary and 16 secondary teachers. In addition, both Aberdeen City and
Aberdeenshire were each looking to recruit a secondary head.
Councillor Angela Taylor, convener of the city council’s education and children’s services committee, said recruitment was ongoing under a system that allows candidates to be interviewed once for multiple jobs.
She also highlighted the incentive scheme, introduced in 2013, which has helped to recruit 25 new teachers.
Last August, 43 primary probationer teachers were recruited, she added, along with 15 more from Ireland in October and a retraining scheme for council officers has attracted 15 people.
She went on: “The current vacancy figures are similar to last year although we have actually recruited more teachers this year. An increase in pupil numbers has meant we have had to recruit a greater number of teachers.”
Across Scotland as a whole, there were more than 850 teaching vacancies and an additional 51 for primary heads at the end of June, compared with just seven in secondary schools.
In the Highlands, there were 28 primary classroom teacher vacancies, 13 at secondary schools and two primary heads required.
Bill Alexander, Highland Council’s director of care and learning, said it had been operating with around 50 teacher vacancies across its schools “for some time”.
He added: “While this is a relatively small number in comparison to the total number of teachers, it is still a concerning number, which is why we have had a focussed approach to the recruitment of staff.
“We will continue to focus on this, as we seek to maintain teacher numbers in the new school session.”
In Moray, there were 16 vacancies for classroom teachers at both primary and secondary schools as well as spots for two primary heads and one secondary head.
A Moray Council spokesman said: “The difficulties that we have had recruiting teachers has been well documented in recent times and the situation with head teachers is no different.”
Orkney Islands Council was looking for one primary classroom teacher and two secondary teachers. All headteacher posts were filled.
Wilfred Weir, the local authority’s executive director of education, leisure and housing, said the recruitment challenge was something the council shared with its neighbours, despite the low numbers.
But he added: “The background and reasons are probably subtly different. Our particular challenge is around primary supply teaching, secondary specialist recruitment and head teachers in both primary and secondary sectors.”