New teachers facing jobs struggle

The snapshot figures showed a drop in full-time vacancies

Hundreds of new teachers stand little chance of finding a full-time permanent job in Scotland, a study has suggested.

Scottish Government statistics indicate there were 607 advertised vacancies in February, down almost 13% on last year.

Figures earlier this month indicated almost 1,600 of the teachers who qualified last summer did not have full-time permanent jobs.

Ministers said vacancies did occur throughout the year and jobs would become available as older staff retire.

But the EIS teaching union said it was concerned that many new teachers may leave the profession.

We could be losing a large number of people from the profession

EIS spokesman

It has called for action by the government as a raft of new teachers is about to come onto the job market.

A spokesman said: "The real issue is the increasing number of people coming out of their induction year with little likelihood of a job.

"This is an issue that has to be addressed at government level.

"We could be losing a large number of people from the profession."

The Teacher Vacancies and Probationer Allocations study showed there were 607 teacher vacancies advertised in February 2008, down from 695 in 2007.

'Steady flow'

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: "The recent GTCS [General Teaching Council for Scotland] survey shows that 92.7% of probationers find employment as a teacher.

"This is an increase of 5% since last autumn, which highlights that teacher vacancies occur throughout the year and not just in August.

"The fact that there are still unfilled vacancies in February in both primary and secondary sectors demonstrates again that vacancies occur throughout the year."

She added that the government expected a steady flow of employment opportunities due to retirals, with about 6,000 teachers leaving the profession this year - almost 400 more than last year.

Matching vacancies

A spokesman for local authority umbrella group Cosla said: "We welcome the recent survey by the General Teaching Council for Scotland which found around 93% of probationers find employment as a teacher.

"Where councils are concerned is the fact that vacancies don't always match the probationers coming on stream either by primary or secondary sector or by secondary subject."

Maths and home economics were the subject areas with the highest vacancy rates, with 1.9% and 1.7% respectively. The vacancy rate amongst Gaelic medium teachers in secondary schools was 3.2%.

There were 200 advertised posts which had been vacant for more than three months, equivalent to 0.4% of the full teaching complement.