An Angus councillor has raised concerns that pupils aren’t able to select the subjects they want to study due to a lack of teachers.
The latest staffing update shows that subject teacher vacancies at secondary schools in Angus increased from five to eight in the past two months.
Montrose councillor David May, who is a former headteacher, said he continued to be concerned at the level of vacancies in the county.
He said: “I appreciate that schools have developed their curriculum to minimise the effect of the possibility of not being able to recruit staff in subject areas where there is a shortage.
“However, this means in practice that pupils have less choice and means that some pupils are not able to do courses and subjects they wish to for their future careers.
“This is really bad news as we want our young people to develop skills and knowledge in our schools which will be needed in the world of work and for example not having enough teachers of technical subjects will be a huge disadvantage.
“In September we were five full time teachers short in secondary and the number has now risen to eight which across our secondary schools is hugely disappointing and causes problems.
“However, although it is clear we have had staffing problems in Angus, in recent years this staffing shortage is not confined to Angus but across Scotland.”
Angus Council is currently advertising for new teachers.
Mr May said he has asked the council’s strategic director (people) Margo Williamson to write to education secretary John Swinney so that he is aware of the ongoing staffing problems in Angus.
“Let us face it staffing is crucial to our pupils achieving, and as a result if he (Mr Swinney) increases the numbers going into teacher training, especially in the shortage subjects, this will make a huge difference to our youngsters,” Mr May added.
The level of vacancies at Angus primary schools has reduced from 6.8 to 3.2 full time equivalents since the last update in September.
Mr May said this had led to promoted staff, such as primary head teachers, taking classes.
He said: “The work done by the council director and her staff are to be commended as this had a positive effect in lessening the shortage.
“However, it is still the case that we are 3.2 teachers short in primary schools and it is clear this is being covered by some supply staff and schools covering internally through their promoted staff.
“This means that promoted staff are not able to do the job they were promoted to do.
“My fear is that we have primary head teachers covering classes for months and not being able to do their jobs as head teachers.
“This means that they will not be able to do what they need to in school improvement.”
Responding to Mr May’s comments, an Angus Council spokesman said: “In common with the rest of Scotland, it is a challenge to recruit teachers of technologies and computing and while figures will always fluctuate, we are working hard to fill any vacancies when they arise and are presently advertising for recruits to certain teaching posts.
“We are currently ‘growing our own teachers’ through an initiative operating in partnership with Aberdeen and Dundee Universities for a distance learning qualification in primary education and we have also extended relocation packages to teachers.”
