Parents call for action over Aberdeenshire teacher numbers

Parent councils from all of Aberdeenshire's secondary schools have called for Scottish government action to boost teacher number.

Leaders of the 17 parent councils said some subjects were not able to be taught and described the issue as "crucial".

Claire Rennie, the chairwoman of Fraserburgh Academy Parent Council, said teachers were exhausted and overstretched.

Aberdeenshire Council said a full review was needed over teacher numbers. The Scottish government said it recognised there were challenges.

Mrs Rennie said a scheme to encourage newly-qualified staff to take up posts in rural areas was not working.

This year Aberdeenshire Council requested 44 teachers but was allocated only 20.

From this, only eight were confirmed after some teachers withdrew or opted for another location.

Mrs Rennie told BBC Scotland News: "All of the 17 parent councils within Aberdeenshire are very frustrated at the lack of teachers.

"We are particularly frustrated that the teacher induction scheme which is meant to be the scheme that brings newly-qualified teachers to the area for their probationer year is just not fit for purpose, it's just not working."

She said pupils in Aberdeenshire were not getting the same curriculum choices as children in the Central Belt.

She added: "There are subjects just not getting taught in Aberdeenshire schools which would be getting taught in the rest of Scotland.

"The likes of technical education, computing studies, home economics.

"The other effect is that our teachers themselves are absolutely exhausted covering classes that they don't have enough teachers to teach."

She said she could "totally understand" difficulties attracting people to area and called for a summit to address the issues.

Laurence Findlay, director of education and children’s services at Aberdeenshire Council, said receiving only eight new teachers via the induction scheme was a problem.

He said: "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."

The Scottish government said it was offering local authorities £145.5m to "protect teacher numbers, supporting children and young people’s education".

A statement said: "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.”