Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Aberdeen City Council to retrain staff as teachers

Post Thumbnail

Aberdeen City Council staff have been offered the chance to be retrained as primary school teachers in an attempt to achieve a “100% staffing complement”

As part of the scheme, council workers are being offered a financial carrot in an attempt to stem a “severe shortage” of primary teachers.

The local authority has agreed to cover the tuition costs, at up to £1,800 per person, for those wishing to train as teachers.

In addition, the council has also guaranteed a job for trainees on completion of their training and a year-long probationary period.

The opportunity is open to all council employees who live within the city or Aberdeenshire and have a higher English degree at grade C or above, a standard grade 2 or above in maths and an experience of working with young people.

The initiative, named DLITE Initial Teacher Education, is being run by Aberdeen University.

The tuition will be spread over an 18 month period and involve distance learning, network days and blocks of school placement.

The city council will support the programme by continuing to employ anyone going through the course and continuing to pay them their previous job’s salary while on primary school placements.

In order to prevent those trained from taking their skills elsewhere, those undertaking the scheme must be employed in teaching for Aberdeen City Council for the first three years after their probation or they will have to pay back the cost of their training.

Education and children’s services committee convener Angela Taylor said: “I think it’s a brilliant initiative, and I’m excited to see where it goes.

“Aberdeen is suffering a severe shortage of primary school teachers.

“The number of vacancies for primary teacher positions we have is usually around 30 people, but we want to achieve a 100% staffing complement, which is something I hope this initiative will be able to achieve.

“We have already had 33 people apply to the scheme so far. When they complete the course, they will be put on a probation for a year, and if they’re successful they will be given one of the guaranteed jobs.”

After completing their distance learning, council workers who decide to change career paths to teaching will be awarded a Professional Graduate Diploma in Education and receive a salary starting at £22,827 and going up to £34,887.