Probationers prioritised over teachers seeking work for years

The job situation in Scotland is an absolute disaster and is a national crisis which the government should be ashamed of – the government continues to blame local councils and vice versa whilst teachers are kept on a never ending merry-go-round every year not knowing if they will have secure work to move on and progress with their lives. We are losing so many good teachers to other professions and those moving abroad because they can’t continue to rely on seeking teaching jobs as a stable career.

Why are we still training so many primary teachers every year when so few jobs are available? Universities need to drastically cut teacher training numbers until the job situation is resolved. The fact that councils constantly break contracts over the summer to avoid building continuous service towards permanency is deplorable and also results in never ending inconsistency for pupils and families year on year with the staff turnover.

I have friends from probation who are locked out the supply lists and any jobs in their own local area as they completed probation in another local authority, meaning they are effectively trapped in their probation authority (some travelling crazy distances) and can’t seek work outwith.

This 3 year ‘job guarantee’ for probationers needs scrapped or re-thought to include those who have been looking for teaching jobs for years – it is absolutely not fair to prioritise probationers through this as cheap labour and is merely a sticking plaster to make it look like the government are boosting teacher numbers and is a total slap in the face to all those teachers who have been seeking work for much longer than eligible probationers.

The reduction in class contact time absolutely MUST result in more permanent teaching posts in Scotland and the government need to fulfil their promise and deliver on this – our schools are bursting with ASNs with so many pupils needing additional support which one teacher alone in a class of 30 pupils cannot deliver… Children are suffering as a result of this jobs crisis with too many falling through the net due to unmet need which is rooted in lack of appropriate staffing to accommodate pupil need.

How the government can justify spending thousands on ‘free’ school bags for every P1 pupil but continues to refuse to actually resolve the jobs crisis is beggars belief and we need action now. Scottish education used to be a jewel in the crown and looked at in admiration all over the world – it is now a total mess and can’t go on.