Bid to lure Scots teachers to England

Education Correspondent

Friday 9 November 2012

SCOTTISH teachers are being targeted for work in "the garden of England".

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Andrew Denholm Education Correspondent

The drive has been launched by Kent County Council on Facebook as it highlighted a teacher shortage.

The council, whose initiative is called "Your Perfect Kent Day", wants to attract "high-flying" and "inspirational" teachers.

It needs more experienced male primary teachers, headteachers and art, languages, English, maths, chemistry and biology teachers.

Samantha Vandersteen, Kent County Council's recruitment marketing officer, said: "Kent is tackling the shortfall in experienced teachers head on with an innovative campaign designed to get teachers from across the UK to think again about Kent."Newly qualified Scottish teachers face uncertain prospects. The issue was partly caused by the SNP's policy of training more teachers to bring down class sizes as school rolls fell.Instead, councils faced with smaller numbers of pupils decided to cut teacher numbers to save money.Teachers who were expected to retire stayed on as their financial future became uncertain.To free up more places for unemployed teachers, places on postgraduate courses have been cut and extra money has been given to councils to increase teacher jobs.There are 16,190 female staff members in Kent primary schools, compared with 1521 men. With a large number of headteachers nearing retirement, this figure may grow. The council has the largest education department in the UK, with just over 14,000 teachers responsible for 300,000 pupils in 600 schools.A spokesman for the teaching union, the Educational Institute of Scotland, said: "Scottish teachers are some of the best trained and qualified in the world, and it is understandable that other countries are keen to recruit them." Alan McKenzie, depute general secretary of the Scottish Secondary Teachers Association, said: "I rather doubt that established and settled high flyers will be going south in droves. It is gratifying, however, to see Scottish teacher education held in the high regard it should be."

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Bid to lure Scots teachers to England

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