The number of high school teachers in Dundee has plummeted by almost 12% since 2008, new figures show.
A decrease of over 90 teachers has been recorded in the last nine years in the city’s secondary schools — with most dropping off from 2011 onward.
The figures show high school teaching staff numbers have dropped continuously for half a decade, reaching a low of 678 this year.
Children and Families Services Committee convener Stewart Hunter said the closure and merging of city schools in the period covered by the data explained most of the decrease.
He said: “The reason it’s down is in that time the number of secondary schools has gone down. It’s gone from about 10 to eight.
“The ratio [of students to teachers] has gone up slightly although we still have the lowest figure in mainland Scotland — the only places that are lower are rural and island authorities.
“There have been issues for staff and staff have done an amazing job.
“Obviously vacancies have been an issue for a few years now. We are in a better position than we were last year.
“It’s a national problem.
“I’d like to make a note of appreciation for teachers working at difficult times.
“I think we are in a pretty good position but we aren’t complacent.”
Primary school teacher numbers have risen by just over 4% since 2008, according to the data obtained by The Courier under Freedom of Information legislation.
As of November 2016 there were 21 teacher vacancies in the city, figures released earlier this week show.
The council is currently advertising for six secondary school teachers on its website.
A huge gender split still exists in teaching in the city, with women holding the vast majority of roles in primary and secondary teaching.
Male teachers account for just 8.75% of the primary teaching population, and 34.66% of secondary teachers.
However, men outweigh women as high school headteachers, holding more than half of the positions.
It follows reports by The Courier highlighting more than 100 teacher vacancies in Dundee, Fife and Perth and Kinross.
Schools in the region are spending millions of pounds on supply staff to plug the holes caused by the teacher shortages, the figures suggest.
Tavish Scott MSP, for the Scottish Liberal Democrats, said councils across the country are coughing up the equivalent of £200,000 a day on supply teachers.
“With over 600 teacher vacancies at present, many people will be asking whether some of this money could be better spent on making sure that schools have sufficient staff in the first place,” he added.
“While there are many excellent supply teachers, who do great work stepping in at often very short notice, children benefit from continuity.”
Officials at Dundee City Council said that low uptake on teacher training courses has contributed to the recruitment challenges at secondary level, but added they had filled vacancies with an influx of newly-qualified teachers.
A Scottish Government spokesman said the figures obtained by the Lib Dems show that total spending on supply teachers in Scotland has fallen by a third since 2011.
