Smith: SNP’s unworkable concordat is damaging prospects of newly qualified teachers

The SNP's unworkable concordat is damaging the prospects of Scotland's newly qualified teachers.

The General Teaching Council for Scotland's annual survey of probationer teacher employment shows that:

The ratio of respondents obtaining a full-time Permanent Contract is down from 48% in 2006/7 to 20.5% in 2009/10 – a fall of nearly 60%.

The ratio of respondents not employed in teaching has risen from 7.3% to 16.2% - a rise of 122%.

Liz Smith MSP, Scottish Conservative Education Spokesperson, said:

"It is very clear these are depressing times for the teaching profession and those aspiring to become part of it. The number of newly qualified teachers getting permanent employment is down nearly 60% from four years ago and the number of newly qualified teachers not employed in teaching has more than doubled.

"The financial pressures created by Labour's debt legacy was the catalyst, but the SNP have been in government for over four years and have done nothing to address the slide. Make no mistake, the SNP's unworkable concordat has got us into this mess.

"Many people give up other careers to go into teacher training and it is a huge concern that so few, newly trained teachers are finding jobs. The SNP should have been putting far more emphasis on removing the rigidities within the labour market for teachers. In particular, schools themselves need far more say in who they recruit and we need to reduce the number of restrictions placed on probationers when they are seeking their first job.

"We also need to address the issues of geographical immobility which reduces the numbers of teachers willing to work outside the main cities and central belt area, and the obstacles which headteachers face when they want to advertise for new jobs. Unless we start to do this, the situation will get worse and not better. The SNP Government has no excuses now and people are looking to them to sort this out."

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