Fewer teachers in permanent work

The number of newly qualified teachers finding full-time permanent jobs has fallen by 12.3% compared with the same time last year, according to figures.

A poll by the General Teaching Council of Scotland found almost two-thirds of teachers who qualified last summer do not have full-time permanent posts.

It said the number of teachers finding some form of work, including supply or temporary, had remained steady at 90%.

The government said the figures had improved dramatically since October.

The statistics suggested the number of new teachers with no work had fallen from 21% in October 2008 to 10.6% in April 2009.

Schools Minister Keith Brown said: "This is continued evidence of the fact that teaching posts occur throughout the year and if every new teacher obtained a post in August, we would now be facing a teacher shortage."

Course reduction

However, Ken Cunningham, general secretary of School Leaders Scotland, said the figures just confirmed "the worrying trend of unemployment among usually very good, very well trained, newly-qualified teachers".

He added: "While the government is taking action, we really need to get this right urgently so that the government isn't training people for unemployment."

Mr Brown said the government had decided to reduce autumn 2009 intakes for one year postgraduate teacher training courses.

The survey by the GTCS, which is carried out annually, found that 11 months after completing college training and a one-year probation period in a school, 64.2% of teachers were in short-term or part-time work - or no teaching post at all. This compared to 51.8% in April last year.

The latest poll was based on 1,334 responses received out of a total population of 3,389 new teachers - a response rate of 39.4%.

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