Unions warn of classroom 'breakdown'

Peter Peacock, the education minister, trumpeted a 30 per cent increase in students enrolled for post-graduate certificate of education (PGCE) courses, saying it was proof they will reach their target of 53,000 teachers by 2007.

But union bosses warned that more teachers were needed in the short term to stall a looming crisis in teacher numbers.

Executive figures revealed there were 790 vacancies on 13 February last year, the latest figures available. That was up from 759 five months earlier.

Some 335 of the posts had been vacant for over three months, with the worst shortages in Gaelic, general science and modern studies.

The figures follow a survey by the Headteachers’ Association Scotland (HAS) showing staff shortages in key areas in schools across the country.

Bill McGregor, the association’s general secretary, predicted the number of vacancies is likely to have worsened since the figures were collated.

"Something has to be done now to slow the loss of teachers," he said. "If things go too far - and they haven’t done so yet - we are looking at a breakdown."

Mr McGregor welcomed the Executive’s moves to provide more young teachers, but with almost 50 per cent of teachers retiring in the next ten years, he warned that ministers must work on retaining experienced teachers by cutting bureaucracy and improving discipline.

Ronnie Smith, the general secretary of the Educational Institute of Scotland, said local authorities need to offer more flexibility to teachers.

"One teacher vacancy is too many in the sense youngsters are not able to be taught by a qualified professional," he said. "As well as looking at training, local authorities have to make sure they get the most from existing teachers."

James Douglas-Hamilton, the Tories’ education spokesman, said the Executive will fail to retain teacher numbers while a school staff member is attacked every 12 minutes in Scotland.

He said the Executive needs to address the "fundamental problems" in Scotland’s schools by giving teachers powers to deal with unruly pupils.

But Mr Peacock insisted the Executive was already working to boost numbers and recruiting teachers from other countries.

"In a workforce of close to 50,000 teachers, only 335 were vacant for over three months - less than one per cent of the total workforce. I want to see that number fall, and the extra teachers coming out of training will do just that."

Students on PGCE courses this year went up to 2,397 from 1,722 in 2003/4, and Bachelor of Education numbers rose slightly to 3,368.

Mr Peacock also said the Executive’s "historic decision" to break the link between teacher numbers and falling population would lead to smaller class sizes. But Fiona Hyslop, the SNP’s education spokeswoman, said the Executive could not rely on Scotland’s falling population to "balance the books".

"If we are serious about increasing our population we need to be equally serious about recruiting enough teachers to cope," she said.

Professor Ian Menter, of the University of Glasgow, said the Executive had set itself two major challenges. "The first is to ensure there is a match between the overall demand for teachers and the available supply; the second is to ensure there is a sufficient pool of supply teachers available for temporary cover."