The Scottish Government must do more to address Dundee’s teacher shortage, a senior city councillor has claimed.
The new term has begun with schools still seeking 19 teachers and with Dundee City Council struggling to find suitable candidates to fill the posts.
That number is less than at the start of term in 2014 and the Labour Group’s education spokesman Laurie Bidwell said efforts to secure staff locally were worthy of praise.
Nonetheless, he said the shortage would cause issues at schools and believes that urgent action is needed at a nation level to address the problem.
“It is positive that the figure is apparently less than this time last year, but these shortages will undoubtedly put additional demands on our teachers as they provide cover,” Mr Bidwell said.
“While the director of Children and Families’ Services and his staff should be congratulated for their efforts over the summer, it is clear that the supply of newly qualified teachers is currently insufficient to meet the demands in Dundee and throughout Scotland.
“The responsibility for this mess rests principally with the Cabinet Secretary for Education, Angela Constance MSP. She and her predecessors have acted too slowly and as a result our teachers and pupils in our schools are paying the price.
“They deserve better.”
The Scottish Government said it had “increased student teacher intake targets” to ensure “an adequate supply of teachers in Scotland”.