Schools in Tayside and Fife are spending millions of pounds on supply staff to plug the holes caused by teacher shortages, new figures suggest.
There are more than 100 teacher vacancies in Dundee, Fife and Perth & Kinross, according to data that shines light on the recruitment challenges facing Scottish education.
Meanwhile, schools in the region have spent £35m on agency staff since 2011.
Tavish Scott, for the Scottish Liberal Democrats, which obtained the figures, 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.
“We can’t afford for our classrooms to have revolving doors.”
Mr Scott said the SNP have squeezed education budgets, while bombarding teachers with 20,000 pages of guidance on the Curriculum for Excellence.
Officials at Dundee City Council said that low uptake on teacher training courses has contributed to the recruitment challenges at secondary level.
But they added they have been filling vacancies with an influx of newly qualified teachers.
A council report said: “This is a positive development, but there is a clear recognition that additional work and ongoing recruitment is required in the coming session to fill vacancies, ensure that all teaching posts remain filled and increase the number of supply teachers.”
Nicola Sturgeon has made closing the attainment gap between those from deprived and better-off families a priority of her premiership and last month’s draft budget promised £120m for headteachers to help them to do so.
Education Secretary John Swinney has set a target to eliminate the attainment gap within a decade.
Meanwhile, Scotland’s slide down the international league tables continued in December when Programme for International Student Assessment results revealed performance in maths, science and reading is now “average”.
Last month, official Scottish Government data showed that there are 253 more full-time equivalent teachers than last year.
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.
“While it is ultimately the responsibility of individual local authorities, we are taking a number of actions to help recruit and retain teachers,” he said.
“We have taken action to maintain teacher numbers and committed £88 million this year to make sure every school has access to the right number of teachers.”
