Almost half of all new teachers have found full-time, permanent jobs in Scotland’s schools, more than double the number from two years ago.
A survey of teachers who had recently completed their probationary year in the classroom found that, by spring this year, 45.1% of those who responded had a full-time, permanent contract.
That compares to just one out of five two years ago and one in four last year. The annual survey is carried out by the General Teaching Council for Scotland, which described the increase as “very encouraging”.
A total of 306 teachers who carried out their probationary year in 2011-12 took part in the survey. As well as those who had found full-time, permanent teaching jobs, 5.2% had found a permanent part-time position in the classroom.
This means just over half the newly qualified teachers surveyed had found a permanent job within nine months of completing their probationary year.
In addition, almost a third had found temporary teaching work, with 24.5% having a full-time temporary contract while a further 7.2% had a part-time temporary contract.
Just 16.3% of newly qualified teachers took part in the survey, which GTC Scotland chief executive Anthony Finn described as “disappointing”.
He added: “The information gathered is broadly representative of the profession in terms of age, gender and sector and, therefore, provides us with useful information.”