Trainee teachers in parts of Wales claim they cannot find jobs because the number of children in schools is falling.

In Gwynedd and Anglesey alone more than 1,000 places have been lost in three years because of the dwindling birth rate.

Hannah Huws wants to be a primary teacher

By 2021, it is predicted that the number of children in Wales will have fallen by 50,000, bringing a reduction in the number of teachers who will be needed.

Union leaders are calling on the Welsh Assembly to do more to help the teaching sector.

Teacher trainee Hannah Huws is one of those faced with finding a job in a shrinking employment market.

She hopes to find a job as a primary school teacher near her home in Llanfair PG, Anglesey, once she finishes her training.

She said: "I'm worried because I support a family.

Problems are worse for Welsh-language education

"There are other people on the course who are equally worried about finding a job at the end and there is obviously a limit of jobs."

The most recent figures show that 3,914 people are on training courses in Wales and two-thirds of these want to work in the primary sector.

There are vacancies in secondary schools - a report last month by the General Teaching Council for Wales (GTCW) found 10% of secondary posts are vacant.

But many teachers do not want to work in secondary schools, pointing to problems with discipline and the heavy workload.

Dr Heledd Hayes, of NUT Cymru, said the Welsh Assembly had a crucial part to play in making secondary school teaching an attractive option.

Positions

"The important thing to do at the moment is to make the most of the opportunity to lessen class sizes.

"The assembly has already done good work with that in primary, let's take it on even further to secondary."

The GTCW report found the most acute lack of secondary teachers is in Welsh medium education, where there are shortages in almost every subject area.

In contrast, primary school positions attract an average of 20 applicants per post, more than three times the amount responding to comprehensive jobs.