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.

‘Extra staff in schools is normal’, says Moray’s education boss

Moray Council's director of education and social care, Laurence Findlay, believes the recruitment situation in the region is improving.
Moray Council's director of education and social care, Laurence Findlay, believes the recruitment situation in the region is improving.

Over-staffing in schools is “sound employee management”, according to Moray Council’s director of education.

This week it emerged Lossiemouth High School has about four extra members of part-time staff while others in the region struggle to fill vacancies.

Last night the authority’s director of education and social care, Laurence Findlay, explained extra staff were used to keep costs down.

Contract laws have prevented the teachers from being transferred elsewhere but the schools boss revealed it would not have been possible anyway.

Mr Findlay said: “Even if we had been able to move them, they weren’t trained in subjects we needed. It would be like a music teacher taking maths, for example.”

He added: “The big issue we have at the moment is the supply staff. We don’t have a lot of supply staff so most secondary schools aim to run with a level of excess.

“If you have to buy in cover then it is going to lead to more expense so it’s good to have a bit of excess. That’s just sound staff management.”

The council director explained extra staff were needed to provide “flexibility” to cover teachers that are sick or on courses.

Lossiemouth High School’s extra part-time staff are not able to be moved because they are only employed for a small amount of hours.

Forres Academy Parent Council chairwoman Elizabeth Watson is eager to see teachers moved to fill gaps where there are appropriate positions.

She said: “I understand you wouldn’t want teachers taking subjects they are not trained in but should the situation arise where it is possible I hope it would be looked at.

“Forres Academy needs a technical teacher and if there was an extra technical teacher somewhere then it wouldn’t make sense not to transfer them, at least temporarily.”

Mr Findlay described the recruitment position of the council as “getting better” with several appointments made since the summer holidays.

However, enticing applicants for head teacher posts at primary schools remains a challenge.

Mr Findlay said: “We have five vacancies for them at the moment and they are all attracting low numbers of applicants. It could be the same people have applied for all of them so they may need to be re-advertised.”