Nearly 900 teaching jobs in the north of Scotland have had to be re-advertised since 2014.
Shetland MSP Tavish Scott, the Scottish Liberal Democrats’ education spokesman, said parents would be worried posts were proving so difficult to fill and claimed action must be taken to make teaching a more attractive career.
Freedom of Information requests have shown 2,277 teaching posts had to be re-advertised between 2014 and 2017 across Scotland. Aberdeen had some of the highest numbers of jobs left unfilled after no candidates put themselves forward, with 319 posts re-advertised in the last three years.
Aberdeenshire had 214 re-advertisements, Moray 115, Orkney 33, Shetland 31 and the Western Isles 170. Highland Council did not respond.
Mr Scott called for extra investment and urged a review of teachers’ terms and conditions which he labelled “McCrone 2”.
He said: “Teaching is an amazing and rewarding profession. But there is an urgent need to make it more attractive to both existing and potential teachers.
“Every teacher knows support staff have been cut and their workload has increased.
“That is why the education secretary must now respond to our calls for a new independent root-and-branch review to ensure teachers have the conditions, numbers and support to match the demands placed upon them.
“There is also an opportunity for the Scottish Government to include in its budget an additional £500million for education.”
A Scottish Government spokesman responded that councils had the reins on education, but insisted extra funding had been provided.
He added: “Although teacher recruitment is a matter for local authorities, we recognise some areas have faced challenges in filling vacancies.
“This is why we have invested £88million in 2017, resulting in 543 more teachers than last year – the second year in a row that there has been an increase in teacher numbers.
“In Aberdeenshire, the number of teachers increased this year to 2,675 – the highest in over five years.
“We have taken decisive action to help recruit and retain teachers through our Teaching Makes People campaign.
“That has focused specifically on attracting new teachers and career-changers into science, technology, engineering and maths, as well as other subjects.”
