Teachers Summit - What Happened?
Today saw leaders from seven North of Scotland Councils and education officials gather for a crisis summit to tackle the rising number of teacher vacancies.
It took place at the Beach Ballroom in Aberdeen.
In an opening speech, Leader of Abereen City Council, Jenny Laing, said: "We have a responsibility to ensure we provide our children with high quality learning experiences to allow them to fulfill their potential, to improve outcomes and to improve their life chances.
"The challenge we face in the North of Scotland is that we are quite simply unable to recruit and retain sufficient numbers of high quality teachers.
"If I wish to ask for a wish-list from the Minister today, I would ask for three things. Firsty, we should establish a nationally supported taskforce to agree an action plan for the area.
"Secondly, I would ask that consideration be given to whether a weighting for the North of Scotland would work for the recruitment of public sector workers - in much the same way as London and the Islands.
"Thirdly, consideration needs to be given to addressing the annual budget settlements for North authorities."
Cabinet Secretary for Education, Angela Constance, then spoke to those gathered, emphasising the Scottish Governments dedication to helping solve the issue.
However, she could not commit on a taskforce, weighting allowance or a budget boost.
Leaders from the seven local authorities have now agreed to write to the Scottish Government and continue to put pressure on them, to deliver for the North of Scotland, and resolve this crisis.