Education Secretary John Swinney has condemned a shortage of almost 130 classroom places for student teachers as "wholly and utterly unacceptable".

There are 128 teachers who should have been starting their probationary year but have not been able to get a confirmed place, he told MSPs.

While he said it was local authorities who have "got to take responsibility for ensuring there are adequate places available", Mr Swinney added that he understood the frustration of those who have not yet been able to fund a place.

READ MORE: Crisis in vital school placements for Scottish trainee teachers​

Labour MSP Monica Lennon had pressed him on the issue in the Scottish Parliament, saying: "Dozens of these students, locked out of the classroom, have been in touch with me for assistance."

One of the trainee teachers who has not been able to get a place complained of "feeling that Scotland hates its new teachers and that talent and potential is being wasted", Ms Lennon added.

She told Mr Swinney: "These students are our next generation of teachers and a practice placement is a vital part of their training."

The Labour MSP said there had been "similar issues" in 2014 as she called on the Scottish Government to "exhaust all avenues to make sure the student placement system leaves no student behind".

READ MORE: Crisis in vital school placements for Scottish trainee teachers​

Mr Swinney said that of the 6,526 trainee teachers, there were 128 requiring a placement.

He said: "I understand entirely the frustration of young people that are affected in this way. I find it wholly and utterly unacceptable that this situation has arisen.

"This system is reliant entirely on universities providing good information about students and local authorities providing adequate places for students in schools for successful matches to be made."

The Education Secretary said he had had talks with the General Teaching Council for Scotland about the issue.

He told MSPs: "I can't direct schools to make placements available. Local authorities run the schools of Scotland and they've got to take responsibility for ensuring there are adequate places available."

READ MORE: Crisis in vital school placements for Scottish trainee teachers​

But he said it "is in all of our interests to make sure that there are placements for young people so they can get on with their teacher training and they can fill the vacancies in the teaching profession that exist".

School managers were being contacted to encourage them to make places available, Mr Swinney said, while Strathclyde University, where 100 students were affected, would "engage directly with local authorities to find placement matches for students".

He added: "There will be follow-up action taken by government to ensure these actions are being taken to try to draw this matter to a close as quickly as we possibly can do.

READ MORE: Crisis in vital school placements for Scottish trainee teachers​

"I am absolutely committed to ensuring these young people are able to fulfil their teacher training, but I call on the universities of Scotland the local authorities of Scotland to do what is entirely within their responsibility to make sure there is an adequate number of school placements available and there is good quality information from the universities to resolve this issue."