Nursery school teachers could be called in to fill primary school vacancies, a council has warned.
Clackmannanshire Council has included the plan as an option if recruitment difficulties continue into the new school year in September.
Clackmannanshire Council’s chief education officer Anne Pearson said schools would have to find room for 90 extra pupils and employ 13 extra teachers to meet current demand, on top of 25 teachers brought in this February.
Scottish Conservative shadow education secretary Liz Smith said the possibility of drafting in nursery teachers to cover primary school shortages was alarming.
She said: “Now we have hard-hitting predictions which could happen within a matter of months and there will undoubtedly be negative consequences for children.
“Parents will be alarmed things have got so bad nursery teachers may have to be drafted in and entire age groups in some primary schools may have to be sent elsewhere.
“This is the consequence of an SNP government which has had a boom and bust approach to teacher training.
“The nationalists have planned disastrously, and really left councils in the lurch when it comes to dealing with the impact.
“The SNP must take serious heed of these warnings, and act urgently to ensure these scenarios coming down the track don’t play out.”
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said councils had the option to use nursery teachers in primary schools as they were fully qualified for both.
She said: “All primary teachers registered with the General Teaching Council for Scotland are fully qualified to teach in both primary and early years settings.
“Councils are free to assign staff as needed and it is not uncommon for teachers to work across both nursery and primary school settings as required.
“We recognise some councils have faced challenges with teacher numbers.
“That is why we are taking a number of actions to help recruit and retain teachers and widen the pool of available talent.”
She added 253 teachers had been recruited this year, the number of student teaching places had been increased for the sixth year in a row and people were being encouraged to switch careers into teaching as well.
A Highlands Council spokeswoman said the authority did not employ nursery teachers so would not be sending them to cover the area’s seven primary teacher vacancies.
A Moray Council spokesman said there were no plans to use nursery teachers in primary schools.
An Aberdeen City Council spokesman said: “Utilising teachers allocated to nursery classes in primary classes is an option open to all local authorities, but is not standard practice or policy at Aberdeen City Council.
“We do not envisage this changing. “