Hugh Reilly: Good to know our NQTs have jobs to go to … in Qatar

Published on Tuesday 19 August 2008 20:00

FOLLOWING reports that there are no vacancies for hundreds of newly qualified teachers, the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) expressed appreciation of the decision taken by Education Minister Fiona Hyslop to set up a working group to explore whether too many teachers are being trained. Call me a victim of placing too much emphasis in the "cause-and-effect" model of explaining a phenomenon, but this investigation is akin to the Maritime Board probing the possibility th

Last week, the GTCS hosted a reception for new entrants to the profession. Sixty newly qualified teachers (NQTs) randomly selected from the 3,500 who completed training this year munched canaps and quaffed champagne, doubtlessly chewing over the fact that, for many, the only required reading this week will be the daytime TV schedules. NQTs described job prospects as "dire, unimpressive and disheartening", but Minister for Schools and Skills Maureen Watt, perhaps to reduce the potential for self-harm among unemployed new teachers, was more upbeat. She told disillusioned newbies that there was every reason to be optimistic, even if they had no job at the start of term. Stunned onlookers watched as she burst into the opening bars of Always Look on the Bright Side of Life and began kicking her legs from side to side (okay, I made the last bit up).

Choosing her words carefully, she said that around 90 per cent of newly qualified teachers were usually working in schools by October. Whether this figure included those who had opted for a more stable career in the school cleaning and janitorial industry, was unclear.

"Working in schools" does not mean "doing the job they were trained for". Many NQTs find themselves languishing on supply lists, accepting a day's work here and there, often supervising classes in subjects for which they have no training. This casualisation of what is called a profession is demeaning and demoralising, and how it squares with that oft-repeated mantra "an education system fit for the 21st century" is a question to be answered by those who control the narrative of education in Scotland.

The Minister urged new education professionals to broaden their horizons and be prepared to move to find work. But move to where exactly? Of the 25 teaching graduates from Aberdeen University who carried out our primary probation in Moray, none has found a permanent post in that local authority. A willingness to be mobile didn't help James Green. He served his probation in South Lanarkshire and applied for positions in that area, East Lothian and, clearly on the verge of a nervous breakdown, Shetland – yes folks, he was that desperate – all to no avail.

But this enterprising lad took Ms Watt's advice to broaden his horizons by securing a teaching appointment in Qatar. I'm certain that I speak for all Scottish taxpayers when I say I'm delighted that, after five years of state-funded higher education, young James will be teaching in an oil-rich country boasting the highest GDP per capita in the world.

In the interests of balance, I must point out that it was not all doom and gloom at the GTCS event. Mortar boards were tossed in the air when it was announced that Perth and Kinross, in a rare outbreak of council tax profligacy, had given permanent contracts to a whopping five of their 180 probationers, or if you prefer, just under 3 per cent of NQTs they exploited, sorry, employed last year. Three cheers for their paternalistic employment policies.

Matching supply to demand is a concept that successive Scottish governments have failed to understand. Wot, no teaching jobs? Yes, Ms Watt, hundreds of enthusiastic NQTs without jobs is something that should greatly concern you.