Classroom Crisis in the North East
There's a crisis in teacher numbers across the North East.
With less than a week to go till the start of the new term, one in five primaries in Aberdeen are without a headteacher - more than anywhere else in Scotland.
And in Aberdeenshire there almost a hundred classroom vacancies in total.
Aberdeen City Council’s Convener of Education and Children’s Services Committee Councillor Angela Taylor has told Northsound the administration's trying to organise a summit on teacher numbers for October.
It could cover the whole of the North of Scotland, not just Aberdeen City and Shire.
She said: “Recruitment continues to be challenging in Aberdeen and across the north of Scotland, particularly to primary schools. Recruitment is on-going under a system which allows candidates to be interviewed once for various posts. There are also adverts out for staff in individual schools and an on-going open advertisement for supply teachers. “We continue to recruit teaching staff by using a range of approaches such as incentives, assistance with accommodation, wider advertising campaigns and recruiting from a broader range of potential applicants. “The incentive scheme introduced in 2013 has helped to recruit 25 new teachers. Last August, 43 primary probationer teachers were recruited, along with 15 more from Ireland in October. A retraining scheme for council officers has attracted 15 people. "The current vacancy figures are similar to last year although we have actually recruited more teachers this year. An increase in pupil numbers has meant we have had to recruit a greater number of teachers."
Aberdeenshire Council's Head of Education for Resources and Performance, Craig Clement, said: “From targeted advertising, links to recruitment specialists to providing advice on housing - we are making concerted efforts to recruit more teaching staff and attract people to live and work in Aberdeenshire.
"We also continue to liaise with Scottish Government and others on ways to encourage teachers to move to the north east of Scotland. This includes increasing the number of student teachers and on-going dialogue to extend the successful Dlite Programme.
"To help new teachers with set-up in their new job and location, as a pilot scheme, we will provide an upfront payment of £5,000 for external teaching appointments.
"Teaching is a rewarding career and I encourage people to get in touch to find out more about teaching in Aberdeenshire."
Aberdeenshire Council has even put together a video to attract prospective teachers to the North East: