Dundee is not suffering from a drop-off in teachers from the European Union despite a nationwide shortage, according to the city council.
New figures show that across Scotland, the number of would-be trainees from the continent inquiring about jobs has fallen “off a cliff”, with the decline being blamed on Brexit.
However, a Dundee City Council spokesperson said they had “not noticed” a decline in interest.
He also claimed the city is well ahead of where it has been previously when it comes to classroom recruitment, with the majority of posts expected to be filled in time for next year.
The local authority spokesperson said: “We are in the best position we have been in for a number of years.
“We anticipate being fully recruited in primary and have a very small number of secondary posts that are out to advert and will be interviewed for early in the new session.
“Teacher recruitment is an ongoing process and there is always some staff movement throughout the year.”
Across Scotland, only 14 requests for registration were made in the first six months of 2018 from applicants from EU countries and Switzerland.
That compares to 128 applications in 2015, 159 in 2016 and 186 last year.
Dundee City Council did not clarify exactly how many enquiries it has received, or how many secondary school posts need to be filled.
Earlier this summer, Labour councillor Charlie Malone, the party’s children and families spokesperson, had expressed concern about pupils and staff “bearing the brunt” of unfilled positions.
Recent figures showed that for 2017, there were 1,374 teachers employed in public schools in Dundee compared with 1,397 the previous year.
Towards the end of last term, there were 25 primary school vacancies, though no head teacher roles were unfilled.
At the time, Dundee’s convener of children and families services Gregor Murray said he was “definitely perplexed” at the claims of there being teacher shortages.
Councillor Murray was unavailable for comment at the time of going to press.
