Did your child’s primary school have a great probation teacher last year?
Sadly, the chances are they are not returning to the classroom in a permanent post as the new term starts next week.
A shortage of jobs for new teachers in primary schools – and some secondary school subjects – is blighting the careers of those entering the profession.
Only 22 of the latest teachers to complete their probation year will go into permanent jobs in Dundee, Angus, Fife and Perth and Kinross council primary schools next week.
Meanwhile another 238 will start their probation year in classrooms in these areas.
Teaching graduates are guaranteed a probation year in a school through Scotland’s teacher induction scheme, but Scotland-wide only one in five of last year’s cohort went on to a permanent post afterwards.
This year in Angus 18 primary teachers completed their probation but only nine will return to permanent jobs there next week.
Perth and Kinross had 25 primary probation teachers but only four who completed their classroom training in June will start permanent contracts.
Job prospects were even worse in Fife where NONE of last year’s primary school probationers – there were 139 there last term – were given permanent work.
In Dundee there were 46 primary probationer posts last year, but only nine of those to complete the scheme in June were hired permanently for city primary schools.
For some new teachers, the hunt for a job takes several years.
We spoke to five local teachers suffering due to the jobs shortage – each of them looking for work outside education to make ends meet.
And we asked councils and the Scottish Government what they were doing to ensure as many new teachers as possible can find jobs.
Due to worries their employment prospects would be harmed by speaking out, we are protecting our teachers’ identities.
New teachers without jobs
When she was a student, one Dundee mum said she was assured warnings over job shortages were unfounded.
She said: “They were saying ‘don’t listen to the scaremongering, there are definitely jobs’, so I felt fine, I wasn’t worried.”
After going through Dundee City Council’s interview process in the spring she expected she may be given only a temporary job but was shocked to be put on the supply list.
I left a job I loved to do this. I’ve got a mortgage to pay, children to support.”
She said: “Well over 100 people went for the interviews. Eight or nine got permanent and everyone else was told they were going on supply.”
Finding her situation “incredibly stressful”, she says she may have to look for employment outside education fearing it could be winter before there is demand for supply teachers.
She said: “I left a job I loved to do this. I’ve got a mortgage to pay, children to support.
“I love teaching. It’s honestly, the best job in the world. I felt like I really made a difference.”
A Dundee teacher unable to find a permanent classroom job previously told us how his wife felt suicidal due to their family’s poverty.
He has had only supply and temporary work since finishing his probation and continues to look for work outside education as schools return.
His wife said: “We have absolutely no idea how we’ll manage to pay our bills as of next month because my income doesn’t cover the outgoing expenses.
“His last wage was at the end of July.”
Probation teachers inexperienced and cheaper
Another Dundee primary school teacher faces yet another year without a permanent job.
She put off any plans to buy a house or have a family to train as a teacher but remains on the supply list.
And as she is working elsewhere to ensure a steady income she’s not always available to take supply work offered.
She blamed the probation system itself for preventing new teachers from being kept on.
She said: “You are told [after interview] you would get [a job] but there are no jobs to fill. Why? Because there are two posts in each school being filled by the new probationers, not as supplementary teachers but as staff.
Year after year they are churning out more probationers as cheap labour.”
“Children are being subjected to year after year of teachers who are inexperienced and learning.
“Not as an addition to a class teacher, but as the class teacher. And year after year they are churning out more probationers as cheap labour.”
Indeed it costs councils significantly less to employ probationers – the probation year salary is £31,584 compared to £37,896 for the first rung of the main grade.
An Angus primary teacher we spoke to is also job hunting outside education after being offered only supply work yet again.
She said: “I went into teaching to provide a better life for my kids and I’m so sad it’s been anything but.
“I know of one teacher who has been on/off supply for five years now and she is also leaving as she can’t do it anymore
“This situation needs to be sorted. The Scottish Government has said they have reduced university intake by 200 this year but that isn’t going to help at all.”
There’s just so much competition for every job.”
While more acute, the problems are not unique to primary school teachers. A shortage of teachers in some subjects, for example maths, is not mirrored in all subjects.
A Fife secondary school teacher told us she had searched across the country for jobs in her field, and remains without a post.
She said: “Jobs start coming out about February until the end of term.
“I applied for four or five across the whole of Scotland. I got interviewed for all of them, but there were already people lined up on for them who were on temporary contracts.
“There’s just so much competition for every job.”
As the new term begins, she is looking for work outside education.
The Scottish Government has committed to increasing teacher numbers by 3,500 during this parliament.
Too many trainee teachers
But while targets for new trainee teacher intake were missed for secondary education every year from 2019 to 2022, they were exceeded for primary education.
Last year, the number of students enrolled at Scotland’s universities to train as primary teachers was reduced – but only slightly.
In October 2022, 1,958 students began initial teacher education for primary teaching, compared to 2,065 in 2021.
Student intake targets are the responsibility of the Scottish Funding Council, the authority for higher and further education, and individual universities.
The Scottish Government recommended the 2023 intake of students for primary education be reduced by 200 to recognise “historical over-recruitment”.
What does the Scottish Government say?
Every local authority is required by the government to take a minimum number of probationer teachers emerging from universities each year, allocated to them by the General Teaching Council for Scotland.
A government spokesperson said: “It has always been the responsibility of local councils to recruit and employ teachers, based on local needs and circumstances.
“Councils are being supported with an additional £145.5 million in this year’s budget to protect increased teacher numbers, which assures funding for councils and removes this as a barrier to employing staff on permanent contracts.
“Where this is not being delivered by a local authority, we will withhold or recoup funding given for this purpose.
“The Education Secretary has discussed the national picture on recruitment with Cosla and looks forward to working with councils on the issue of recruitment and retention.”
What do councils say?
On completion of their probation year, new teachers may apply for jobs in any local authority area or even abroad.
A Perth and Kinross Council spokesperson said: “For a range of reasons, including a decline in the primary school roll and fewer staff leavers, there are currently fewer vacancies this year in our primary sector than in previous years.”
But it stressed that eight of its probationers from last year were given fixed term appointments, six had joined the supply list and 11 are on a list for any future vacancies.
An Angus Council spokesperson said: “The number of NQTs allocated to the authority is set at national level and, therefore, it is inappropriate to draw conclusions from one year’s worth of data.
“This data is only one part of a complex staffing equation which has to take into consideration teachers leaving post due to a number of factors, for example illness, retirement, career breaks.
“Acknowledgment can be given that a stable 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 holds robust recruitment exercises regularly.”
In Fife, head of education and children’s services, Shelagh McLean, said supporting the probationer scheme is really important for the region and Scotland.
With a reducing pupil roll across our schools the number of permanent teacher vacancies also reduces.”
Shelagh McLean, Fife Council
She said: “Probationers are considered, and funded, as part of our core staffing allocations in place across the authority as we have an important role in developing our teachers of the future and supporting newly qualified staff into appointments wherever we can.
“We appoint teachers to permanent posts wherever there is permanent funding.
“Temporary contracts, whether short or long term, are used in genuine circumstances, such as cover for the absence of an existing teacher or where there is an additional post supported through temporary funding.
“With a reducing pupil roll across our schools the number of permanent teacher vacancies also reduces.
“There were 161 permanent posts and 220 temporary posts available, for August 2023, with successful applicants consisting of probationers and other fully qualified teachers both internal and external to Fife.”
Dundee City Council works hard to ensure opportunities for newly-qualified teachers, a spokesperson said.
She said: “We advertise posts internally first to allow current city staff in temporary posts or staff completing their NQT year to apply for permanent/full time employment.
“The number of permanent and temporary posts available as with all councils will vary from year to year.”
Conversation