Council "Working Hard" To Fill Teacher Vacancies

Fife Council says its "working hard" to fill vacancies and ease the burden on teachers.

It comes as a survey for the EIS union found they're working an average of an extra 11 hours a week.

Schools across Fife are facing a shortfall of 125 teachers by next term, although the teacher to pupil ratio has stayed the same.

The local authority says the fall in teacher numbers closely reflects the fall in the number of pupils, and that it has managed to maintain the pupil: teacher ratio "very successfully."

Council Leader David Ross said: "Having said that, funding from the Scottish Government has not kept up with the rising costs of the Education Service and one way in which we have responded to this is through converting education management posts to teaching posts, protecting the front line posts in schools

"As a result of this and the clear focus on what makes a real difference for young people in the classroom, we have more highly skilled literate children than ever in Fife.  We have bucked the national trends for literacy this year, with literacy levels rising in both primary and secondary schools. We are also seeing a reduction in social inequality for our literacy outcomes, with the rate of improvement for our most disadvantaged young people being particularly significant.  Overall, our educational attainment and achievement are rising year on year and our schools are performing highly in school inspections.

"We do face problems in recruiting suitable teachers to fill vacancies and we’re working hard to fill these gaps. "

The 125 vacancies are across a workforce of just over 3,500 in the region.

Shelagh McLean, Head of Education & Children’s Services said: "We have been extremely proactive to ensure that we attract teachers to Fife and are liaising closely with the Scottish Government and the General Teaching Council to support the probationer teacher scheme. 

"This will help to ensure that Fife continues to recruit the best teachers for our schools.”