Graduates in class of own

SCHOOLS in West Lothian have bucked the national trend by employing three times the number of graduate teachers than the number of those retiring.

New figures from the Scottish Public Pensions Agency have revealed that the number of teachers retiring is higher than the number of new probationers being taken on in 30 of Scotland's local authorities.

However, West Lothian employeed 70 new teachers while just 24 retired in 2009-2010, meaning that many teaching graduates from the Lothians have not had to move away to find employment.