SIX Scottish councils are to hold an emergency summit to address crippling teacher shortages.
Local authorities covering Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, Moray, the Highlands, the Orkney Islands and the Shetland Islands have joined forces to try and find a solution to the long-running problem.
The councils want to see a national plan developed by the Scottish Government to increase the number of teachers available to schools.
Proposals include higher salaries for those prepared to move north and an expansion of teacher training courses at Aberdeen University and the University of the Highlands and Islands to improve the local supply of school staff.
The councils involved, who have invited First Minister Nicola Sturgeon to the summit, have already tried to attract greater numbers of teachers by offering up front payments and free accommodation to new teachers.
In Aberdeen City alone, there are currently vacancies for 36 primary teachers, 4 Additional Support Needs teachers and 19 secondary school vacancies.
At headteacher level there are nine vacant primary school posts, equating to about 20 per cent of primary heads, and two secondary school heads.
Jenny Laing, leader of Aberdeen City Council, said: “Many councils in the north and north-east of Scotland are experiencing higher than normal levels of teacher shortages – particularly at senior management levels.
“Whilst not yet at crisis levels it is nevertheless a serious issue that we want to tackle now to protect the interests of pupils. We urge the Scottish Government to work with us on finding a solution at a national level."
Angela Taylor, convener of Aberdeen's education committee, added: “Whilst the vacancy levels are still moderately low if taken as a whole, in some in-demand subjects such as science, technology, engineering and maths recruitment is taking a long time as the pool of applicants is often very low.
“The cost of living in the north and north-east of Scotland is a key factor and urgent action is needed we are to target education resources for the benefit of school students rather than spend on advertising."
The initiative has been backed by Larry Flanagan, general secretary of the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) teaching union.
He said: "We are willing to engage constructively with councils to explore ways to improve processes for teacher recruitment and retention.
"Attracting teachers to some parts of the country - for example rural or remote areas or areas with a lack of affordable housing - is an ongoing challenge for a number of local authorities.
"While pay and conditions for teachers will continue to be agreed nationally it is open to local authorities to explore additional incentives or other means of attracting qualified teachers to come and work in their schools."
The six local authorities combined have recently spent about £1million on advertising and have launched a number of initiatives which have included innovative financial incentive packages and housing support.
Among the potential solutions to be discussed at the summit will be the formation of a national task force to draw up an action plan to address the problem. Consideration could also be given to a north ‘weighting allowance’ for public sector workers, similar to that which has been introduced in London.
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