The Teacher Induction Scheme - which guarantees teaching graduates in Scotland a year-long post in a school so they can carry out their probation - is to be reviewed, the education secretary has announced.
Jenny Gilruth made the announcement in the Scottish Parliament this afternoon after coming under fire over teacher workforce planning, given the current oversupply of teachers in primary and undersupply in secondary.
Ms Gilruth also said the Scottish government planned to launch a new teacher recruitment campaign “to encourage more students to take up a career in teaching”. And she reiterated her position that out-of-work primary teachers could consider retraining.
Primary teachers switching to secondary
Tes Scotland reported in November that Ms Gilruth had suggested that unemployed primary teachers could retrain as additional support needs (ASN) specialists.
Today Ms Gilruth went one step further and said she would work with the General Teaching Council for Scotland to help them “in transitioning” into “an ASN post or into secondary”.
She said: “There are opportunities for some in primary who may not be able to obtain posts to divert into other career options. I appreciate that might not be for all, but I think it’s important to recognise there are challenges here but opportunities for us to work differently.”
However, Willie Rennie, the Liberal Democrats’ education spokesman, pointed out that primary teachers are already plugging gaps in secondary schools.
There is an oversupply of primary teachers and they are “struggling to pay the bills” and “battling to stay in teaching”, he said, while some secondary schools are at “crisis point” because of teacher shortages.
Teachers unable to find a job
Mr Rennie said the government had over-recruited primary teachers to fulfil its teacher numbers pledge and promise to reduce weekly class-contact time by 90 minutes, but had failed to deliver. The result was that teachers were having to put their lives on hold “unable to start their family, to get a house, to settle down”.
He said there were “stark” reports about the number of teachers unable to get a job, such as 170 applications for one temporary position, with the problem being “most acute” in the primary sector.
Meanwhile, Mr Rennie said, secondary schools in areas such as Aberdeenshire were having to cut subjects from the timetable due to a lack of staff and recruit primary teachers in lieu of subject specialists.
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