Perks lure jobless Scots teachers south

A specialist recruitment firm has launched a campaign to hire Scots for schools in and around London, with perks including free flights, rent allowance and extra pay on offer for those willing to leave the country.

The company, Coatbridge-based Uteach, has been channelling unemployed teachers from the Republic of Ireland to England, but has previously only found jobs for a handful of Scots. Now it has launched a major advertising campaign in Scotland, saying it has "hundreds" of vacancies ready to be filled.

Its director, Kathleen Brennan, yesterday said: "We are the only teaching agency in Scotland. But before now we haven't actually dealt with Scotland. Scottish teachers previously haven't needed to move. But there are so few posts now. It is a shame for them at the moment – they are given a full probation year but they aren't kept on."

Brennan's firm will fly applicants to England for interviews. English headteachers have far more autonomy than those in Scotland and can pick and choose their own staff, including paying extra for specialists in fields that they need. There is a high demand for maths and science teachers, with headteachers offering 4,000 on top of normal salaries and up to 1,500 in rent allowances.

One new teacher is Debbie Keith, 26, from Glasgow. She is a fully qualified Scottish teacher of computing who has served her probation year in Scotland but spent three years after that trying to get supply work north of the Border.

Late last year, through Uteach, she found a job at a large and oversubscribed comprehensive in Thame, Oxfordshire. "I was having a nightmare in Scotland. After three years of looking and being on the supply list I almost quit teaching completely because I couldn't get a job and was being offered a management job in Pizza Hut.

"Coming to England was a big move, quite daunting. I still can't believe I did it. But now I really like it."

Labour's schools spokesman in the Scottish Parliament, Ken Macintosh, said he understood why teachers like Keith would head south if they couldn't find work. But he added: "I am unhappy that newly qualified teachers are being poached for the south of England when we should be employing them in Scotland."

A spokesman for the Scottish Government said: "Scotland has a world-class initial teacher education system and it is no surprise that other countries may attempt to employ our probationer teachers."