Money to recruit up to 1,000 new teachers and 500 teaching assistants has been announced by the Scottish government.
An additional £50 million will be available for teacher recruitment in the coming academic year as schools prepare to return to full-time face-to-face teaching.
The government has also said it plans to provide a ring-fenced £65.5 million permanent fund each year to allow councils to employ the new staff on permanent contracts.
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The news comes as recently qualified teachers on temporary and supply contracts continue to campaign for more permanent teaching jobs - the SNP manifesto promised 3,500 more teachers and classroom assistants, with the funding for 1,000 teachers billed as the first phase of that additional recruitment.
However, over 2,000 teachers have formed the #LetUsTeach campaign and opposition politicians have accused the government of presiding over “a workforce planning disaster”.
Great to see this today.??We are meeting with the Education Secretary this week to discuss the key issues facing Scotland’s Temporary Teachers. We look forward to moving forward, alongside Scot Gov to make positive changes for both Scotland’s teachers & children across all LAs. https://t.co/8IFbThoDJ9
- Scottish Temporary Teachers (@ScottishTempor1) August 9, 2021
Official figures published in December last year showed that the number of teachers increased by 1,224 between 2019 and 2020, the biggest recorded annual increase since 1975. Teacher numbers, however, did not increase across the board, with five councils reporting a fall in teacher numbers.
Also, while the pupil-teacher ratio in primary fell from 16.8 in 2014, to 15.4 in 2020, it rose in secondary over the same period, and also in special schools.
Education secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said: “Our vision for Covid recovery and our priorities for Scottish education remain unchanged.
“Recruiting more permanent staff will be one of the cornerstones of recovery alongside the health and wellbeing of pupils and staff-intensified support for reducing inequity and enabling the highest quality of learning and teaching.
“The £50 million funding will allow councils to recruit more teachers and pupil support assistants next year.
“Looking further ahead, the additional £65 million annual funding delivered as part of the local government settlement will support councils to recruit these additional staff on permanent contracts.”
Gail Macgregor, resources spokeswoman for the local authorities representative body Cosla, welcomed the funding but added that Cosla was looking forward “to continuing to work with the government to address broader recruitment and retention needs that supports the delivery of high-quality education to all”.
Responding to the announcement, Scottish Labour’s education spokesman Michael Marra said: “This is just a first step towards reversing years of SNP cuts.
“This government must set about undoing their own damage but it comes at a time of unprecedented loss in education. The SNP remain in denial about the scale of the challenges schools face if they think this is a silver bullet.
“This only starts to reverse the SNP’s cuts to education - never mind dealing with the devastation caused by the pandemic.
“School pupils and teachers alike have been let down time and time again throughout this pandemic.
“This must all be entirely new funding and must be accompanied by a real education comeback plan to put a stop to this government’s track record of failure and to give families the support they need.”
