Tories would divert new teachers to rural areas to correct primary school job shortage
The Scottish Tories are looking at teacher recruitment and taking a back-to-basics approach to improving education
Teachers would be offered priority conversion courses to plug skills gaps in subjects with shortages under plans by the Scottish Conservatives.
This week The Scotsman revealed new figures from the Scottish Liberal Democrats showing only one in 10 newly qualified primary teachers have a permanent, full time role.
In the party’s manifesto, the Tories outlines schemes to both expedite training for teachers to change subjects and to fill gaps in rural schools.
READ MORE: 'Broken promises': 9 in 10 newly qualified primary teachers do not have full-time permanent jobs
Scottish Conservative education spokesperson Miles Briggs said: “The figures revealed by The Scotsman highlight serious failings on the part of the SNP government.
“Under the SNP, workforce planning for Scottish schools is in disarray.
“The Scottish Conservatives’ manifesto will include a number of measures to address this long-running problem.”
Teaching unions said the Scottish government is training staff for “jobs that do not currently exist” as figures show a steep decline over the past five years in the number of primary teachers with secure posts.
The Tories said they would work with teachers looking for full-time employment to fill vacancies in rural schools, which struggle with adequate recruitment.
The party said it would establish a working group between teachers looking for full-time work and schools in rural communities to develop employment solutions.
Its pre-election plans also suggest offering already qualified teachers expedited conversion courses to become teachers in subjects with a shortage of supply, such as maths and science.
Teachers who have already taken their PDGEs are already qualified to become teachers, but there are not necessarily the vacancies to allow them to take up a full-time teaching role in their preferred subject.
Qualified teachers would have access to expedited conversion courses to qualify in subjects that are experiencing shortfalls.
A new national workforce plan would also be pushed that, the Tories claims, would “restore Scottish education to its formerly world-leading state”.
The party said it would introduce a plan to ensure any shortages in specific subjects are addressed at an earlier stage, while also exploring ways to employ teachers who may be struggling for employment due to their specialist subject being less in demand.
Mr Briggs added: “Our ambition is to return academic rigour to schools, tackle indiscipline, and restore Scottish education to the world-leading status it once enjoyed.
“The next Parliament must be serious about the disastrous teacher workforce planning we’ve seen under the SNP and deliver the sustainable workforce our schools and children and young people need.”
The Tory policy package also includes a return to the Scottish Survey of Literacy and Numeracy and ensuring the continuance of exam-based learning.
It would also boost the number of school inspections and introduce another 1000 classroom assistants to help with additional support needs.
Meanwhile, Scottish Labour education spokesman Paul O’Kane said it was an “absolute scandal” that nine out of 10 newly qualified primary school teachers don't have a permanent job.
Mr O’Kane said: ”This is yet another example of a Scottish education system in crisis as a result of the utter incompetence of the SNP government and John Swinney.
"Scottish Labour will improve workforce planning and give schools funding certainty so they can offer teachers permanent or long-term contracts.”
Last week, Mr O’Kane’s party unveiled plans to recruit 2,000 specialist teachers to help children who have fallen behind in literacy and numeracy catch up.
Comments
Want to join the conversation? Please or to comment on this article.