The scandalous reason why 90% of Scotland's new primary teachers don't have a proper job
The SNP’s under-funding of local authorities has forced councillors to make some very difficult decisions
Scottish education, once the envy of the world, is in utter disarray. Our schools have been sliding down international league tables, violent and abusive behaviour by pupils goes unpunished, and many teachers are over-worked, stressed out and unhappy.
Now comes the news that a staggering nine out of ten new primary school teachers are not in full-time, permanent employment.
According to new figures, the percentage of ‘post-induction’ primary teachers with a proper job dropped from 30.3 to 10.8 per cent between 2018/19 and 2024/25. The rest were forced to exist on short-term or even zero-hours contracts, or were not in a job at all. Some simply gave up and found other work to pay the bills. Who could blame them?
The situation for new secondary teachers was better, but there was still a big drop in the number in full-time, permanent employment over the same period, down from 57.9 to 42.5 per cent.
Mike Corbett, of the NASUWT union, spelt out just how farcical the situation has become, saying: “Teachers, pupils and the taxpayer are currently being failed by a system which is training new teachers for jobs that do not currently exist, while teachers already working in schools are being engulfed by excessive workloads and pupils are frequently being taught by non-subject specialists.”
His call for an “effective workforce planning strategy” may ring a bell. That’s because people have been asking for one for the NHS for years. He also said teacher recruitment funding from the Scottish Government should be ring-fenced “to ensure local authorities are using the funds as intended”. However, no one should blame councillors who have been forced to make difficult choices because of year after year of under-funding by the SNP government.
Spending on pet SNP projects like pointless independence papers, increases in welfare payments so the nationalists can portray themselves as more ‘progressive’, and millions wasted on mismanaged projects like the construction of two ferries have all come with a very real cost. And right now, Scotland’s hard-pressed teachers and our children are among those paying for it.
Comments
Want to join the conversation? Please or to comment on this article.