Money for new teachers is demanded to ease jobs crisis

Published on Wednesday 17 December 2008 21:53

FIONA Hyslop, the education secretary, was yesterday challenged to provide extra funds to help newly-qualified teachers who are struggling to find work.

Ken Macintosh, Labour's schools spokesman, pressed Ms Hyslop after figures revealed one in every five new teachers had failed to find a job in Scotland's classrooms. A survey by the General Teaching Council for Scotland showed that in October this year 79 per cent of recently qualified teachers were working in the profession. That is down from the same time last year, when 87.8 per cent had found a teaching job of some kind.

Mr Macintosh said the figures revealed that "not only is there a problem, the problem is getting worse". And he asked Ms Hyslop: "Is the cabinet secretary going to announce additional funds for the problem this year?"

Ms Hyslop said more newly qualified teachers would find work, as jobs come up throughout the year when other teachers retire. She told members of Holyrood's education committee that over the four years of the parliamentary term, approximately half of all teachers were expected to leave the classroom.

She added: "If we had 100 per cent of (teachers] in employment in August, you would have shortages and pupils being sent home when retirements and those leaving come through."