An Angus teacher says she feels like a failure for finding only supply and temporary work since qualifying.
She is among scores of newly-qualified teachers (NQTs) in Tayside and Fife with no permanent job after completing their probation year in school.
After their guaranteed probation year in a school, NQTs face stiff competition for a permanent job, with far fewer posts on offer than there are candidates.
Only a minority of new primary school teachers – 11.5% of the 2021/22 probationer cohort in Angus – found a permanent teaching post in their first year fully qualified.
Odds were better but still stacked against those who did their probation in Fife (19.9%), Dundee (27.9%) and Perth and Kinross (48.3%) in the same year.
The Angus teacher is so disillusioned she is now looking for work outside the profession she saw her future in.
She said: “I don’t want to be a supply teacher, but I find that is the only work available for me in Angus.
I feel like a failure and like there was no point in me training to be a teacher as there are no jobs.”
Angus teacher
“I am now seeking employment out with teaching. This means a huge pay decrease.
“I have three children to support and can’t afford to have no income so feel this is my only option.
“I feel like a failure and like there was no point in me training to be a teacher as there are no jobs.”
She is far from alone.
‘National disgrace’
Introduced in 2002, Scotland’s teacher induction scheme guarantees graduates a one-year post in a school to allow them to become fully qualified.
However, last year around 1,150 post-probation teachers in primary and secondary schools were on temporary contracts.
The EIS teaching union said there was a “marked decline” last year in the number securing a teaching post after the scheme.
General secretary Andrea Bradley said: “This is a national disgrace given the desperate need for more teachers in our schools to support young people in education recovery, and it is a waste of the efforts made by almost a third of the initial teacher education graduates who went on to complete their probation years.”
The employment issue facing NQTs is one Scottish Liberal Democrat education spokesperson Willie Rennie has raised repeatedly – and intends to do so again.
He said: “Teachers want to teach, to shape minds and prepare the next generation for the world of work and life yet they are spending years on end in a series of short-term contracts.
“I have raised the alarm on the plight of newly qualified teachers for years but the SNP Government has failed to understand the scale of the problem.”
Angus Council said it was inappropriate to draw conclusions from one year of data.
Indeed, 91.7% of its 2017/18 cohort found permanent jobs post-probation. But that slipped to 10.8% for the 2019/20 group and 8.7% for those the year after.
Since this data was published by the Scottish Government, the council said more of its newest teachers had found permanent jobs and almost all are working in schools either on permanent or temporary contracts.
Complex staffing picture
A spokesman said: “This data is only one part of a complex staffing picture which has to take into consideration teachers leaving post due to a number of factors (e.g. illness, retirement, career breaks).
“A stable teaching workforce offers less opportunity for NQTs at the same time as balancing continuity of learning for children and young people.
“Angus Council is committed to supporting NQTs gain employment and regularly holds robust recruitment exercises.”
The Scottish Government said local authorities were responsible for recruiting, deploying and attracting teaching staff to their area.
A spokesperson said: “[We] will continue to do everything we can to help them maximise the number of jobs available for teachers, including permanent posts.
“In 2022-2023 we will provide councils with specific funding of £145.5 million per year to support the school workforce and help provide sustained employment to teachers.”
Conversation