LISTEN: Teacher Shortage Deepens Moray Schools Crisis

Parents in Moray are being warned schools may shut early due to a lack of teachers.

A shortage of supply staff could lead to some pupils being sent home.

There are currently 70 teaching vacancies in the region's 53 schools.

The council has already spend £35,000 on advertising posts to potential candidates.

Despite that, numbers of available supply teachers are at an all time low.

MFR Reporter Derek Ferguson speaks to Lindsey Stanley, business support manager for education in Moray...

A report to the council's children and young people's services committee on Wednesday states: "Secondary head teachers are becoming increasingly concerned about vacancies, in particular hard-to-fill subject areas such as maths, English, technical and physics.

"In primary, long-term temporary posts such as maternity leave vacancies and part-time posts such as job share are attracting so few applicants that even on the second or third re-advertising they remain unfilled.

"This impacts on members of senior management teams who have increasing teaching remits and reduced management time.

"A number of our head teachers are class committed for several days a week and in those primary schools with a depute head teacher all are class committed for the majority, if not all, of the week.

"This put significant pressure on the leadership of the school and its capacity to improve."

The report says that head teacher vacancies - particularly in primary - have had to be advertised and re-advertised on numerous occasions and only small numbers of applicants are received for some posts, particularly in rural or small coastal schools.

The committee will be told that failure to address staffing shortages in both primary and secondary schools may result in children being sent home.

"The use of central officers to cover absence and illness is not a long-term solution and impacts on the central team and the service they provide," says the report.