People 'scared off' from teaching

The government says a "steady flow" of teaching jobs will arise

Labour has claimed the Scottish Government is scaring people away from teaching because they do not think they will find work after their training.

However, the government said a "steady flow" of jobs would arise through the year with 6,000 teachers set to retire.

A survey in the Times Educational Supplement found only 770 of last year's 3,426 probationers found jobs.

That represented 22%, which was down on the 2006 survey which showed that 32% had found work.

Labour education spokeswoman Rhona Brankin said it was "a grotesque waste of talent" to see hundreds of trained teachers not securing permanent work in the profession.

It is expected that across Scotland around 6,000 teachers will leave the profession this year alone - almost 400 more than last year Scottish Government spokesperson

She added: "The SNP are in danger of scaring people away from becoming teachers as they don't think they can find a job at the end of their training.

"The SNP can try and shift the blame to councils, as usual, but the buck stops with them.

"The SNP have imposed cuts in education right across Scotland.

"They have broken their promises while Labour delivered 53,000 more teachers and smaller classes.

The government said the last General Teaching Council for Scotland survey results, published in June, showed 92% of newly qualified teachers in Scotland were employed in teaching - up 5% on last Autumn.

It believed that figure pointed to the fact that jobs come up throughout the year.

A spokesman added: "We will be monitoring the post-probationer employment situation for this year through the next GTCS survey which is due to be undertaken in October.

"We have made clear that there will be a steady flow of employment opportunities due to retirals this year.

"It is expected that across Scotland around 6,000 teachers will leave the profession this year alone - almost 400 more than last year - and we expect similar numbers to leave in the years ahead."

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