Stevenson Highlights Work to Recruit Teachers in the North East

Stewart Stevenson, SNP MSP for Banffshire & Buchan Coast, questioned Education Secretary Angela Constance today (Wednesday) on what the Scottish Government is doing to address teacher shortage in the North East and how local recruitment is being supported.

At Portfolio Questions in the Scottish Parliament Mr Stevenson asked:

“Does the Cabinet Secretary agree that it is important to local communities that young people in particular, who may have had to study elsewhere, can find employment in their home area? In this context what is the Scottish Government doing to encourage routes into teaching for people, especially the young, who live in the North East?”

Ms Constance agreed that young people and those who are newly trained should be encouraged to stay within their communities in the North East.

She added:

“The Scottish Government is committed to working with local authorities and universities to develop routes into teaching that enable people to remain within their local area.

“This is why we have increased the number of student places for initial teacher education across Scotland – but especially at the universities of Aberdeen, Dundee and the West of Scotland. We have also brought the University of the Highlands and Islands on stream as an initial teacher education provider.”

Ms Constance attended the Teacher Summit last week in Aberdeen to discuss the problem of teacher recruitment.

She said:

“Aberdeenshire is one of the local authorities to have benefitted from Scottish Government funding to the University of Aberdeen to develop the part time distance learning PGDE course – so that partner local authorities can develop existing staff as primary teachers on a part time basis - while continuing in their employment.”

Ms Constance added that this innovation had been widely welcomed by local authorities and that she was looking into extending this to the secondary sector.