Education Secretary John Swinney has admitted there are “challenges” recruiting teachers as he confirmed there are almost 700 vacancies in Scotland’s schools.
He pledged the Scottish Government and local authorities would “work hard” to fill the posts, adding that councils – who are responsible for the day to day running of schools –expect staff to be in place by the end of the this term.
He spoke out as a campaign to recruit more teachers was expanded, in a bid to encourage more English and home economics specialists into the classroom.
The Teaching Makes People initiative was initially set up in order to recruit more teachers in the key areas of science, technology, engineering and maths – the so-called STEM subjects.
And the education minister said “thousands” more undergraduate students were considering a career in the classroom as a result of that.
But he added: “Of course 690 vacancies is an unwelcome figure around the country, but it represents 1.3% of the total teaching complement in the country.”
