Thousands of people have signed a petition to the Scottish Parliament calling for ministers to secure jobs for newly-qualified teachers.
Teaching union the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) said action is needed to ensure sufficient posts are made available for those completing their probationary year. It said 5000 people have signed its petition.
General secretary Ronnie Smith said new teachers were being caught in a game of “political point-scoring” between the Scottish Government and councils.
He said, “The government claims they have provided sufficient funds for councils to deliver their promise to maintain teacher numbers, while councils say they have insufficient funds to do that. The simple fact is that councils have cut the number of teaching posts by almost 3000 (5%) over the past three years.”
He added, “The COSLA/government ‘concordat’ has done no favours for teachers or pupils in Scotland.”
Mr Smith warned the situation looks set to get worse as a result of the recent budget deal and there could be 1200 jobs cut in the coming year.
He said, “We have an abundance of high-quality, enthusiastic new teachers ready to work in our schools. Instead they are unemployed and under-employed in record numbers while pupil-teacher ratios deteriorate, class sizes increase and the successful implementation of Curriculum for Excellence is increasingly put at risk.
“It is time now for the Scottish Government to stand up and make a clear statement on the number of teachers it wishes to see in our schools and how it intends to ensure they are employed.”
Education secretary Michael Russell said, “I am deeply committed to making sure the Scottish Government, together with our partners in local government, do all we can to reduce teacher unemployment — which is already lower in Scotland than in England, Wales or Northern Ireland.
“That’s why the draft budget agreement with COSLA includes a commitment to a real reduction in teacher unemployment as well as guaranteeing a probationer place for every newly-qualified teacher in August 2011, and sufficient posts for all those finishing their probation in summer 2011 to apply for.
“I believe this will lead to a real reduction in teacher unemployment and sustain and build on the progress we have seen, for example in the year-on-year decline in the number of Scottish teachers claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance in each of the last three months.”