Concern has been raised over the number of vacant teaching jobs in Dundee as new statistics reveal 25 posts are currently unfilled.
Among the two dozen, one at St Paul’s RC Academy has remained vacant for more than a year and a half.
Senior positions such as the depute head teacher post at Braeview Academy and principal teacher posts at Baldragon Academy and Rowantree Primary are also unfilled.
Broughty Ferry Liberal Democrat councillor Craig Duncan said the figures were “very concerning”.
He said: “This reveals a worrying number of teaching posts unfilled across the city, not only in so called STEM subjects like mathematics but also in subjects like craft design and technology, with such a post at St Paul’s RC Academy vacant since June 2017.
“The SNP Scottish Government must face up to this recruitment crisis that is a reality across Scotland and the council locally must redouble its efforts to get these posts filled.”
The vacancies are spread across the city’s schools with several empty posts at Grove Academy, St John’s RC High School, Craigie High School, Braeview, and Kingspark.
The figures were uncovered after a Scotland-wide freedom of information request by the Liberal Democrats, which revealed one post in Aberdeenshire had been re-advertised 14 times with just four applicants in that time.
Mr Duncan added: “The frankly dreadful local government finance settlement the SNP government has announced for 2019/20 simply exacerbates the problem.
“What would help is giving teachers a fair pay deal backed by McCrone 2 – an independent review of teachers’ terms and conditions and the demands placed upon them.
“Additionally, other measures to bolster teaching morale must be explored to attract and retain staff in a crucial profession where according to the Educational Institute for Mr HuScotland, 75% of Scotland’s teachers feel stressed as a result of their workload.”
Scottish Liberal Democrat education spokesperson Tavish Scott MSP called the national situation “extremely troubling” and said it was a “wakeup call” for Scottish Ministers.
The Scottish Government insisted teacher numbers nationally are at the highest level since 2010, with primary teachers at the highest level since 1980.
Deputy First Minister John Swinney said: “We want to keep people in the profession and to attract new entrants unto teaching.
“That’s why we have increased targets for recruitment into initial teacher education, created new routes to make it more practical and flexible for people to access courses and run a teacher recruitment marketing campaign.
“There are also fewer teaching vacancies across the country, including significant reductions in jobs advertised for more than three months, demonstrating the impact of our investment in attracting new talent to the profession.”
