The number of teachers employed by Moray Council was showing a slight increase in 2014 – but more needs to be done as demonstrated by the closure of a Buckie school last month because of staff shortages.
Now the Scottish Government say that help could be on the way with an investment of over £2million to provide an additional 250 teacher training places.
Figures released by Education Secretary Angela Constance have shown the slight increase in the number of teachers employed by local council’s in the north – with Moray rising from 885 to 887 teachers last year.
However, the statistics show that throughout Scotland teacher numbers fell from 51,078 in 2013 to 50,824 last year.
Announcing the additional funding the Education Secretary said: “We want our schools to have the right number of teachers with the right skills to ensure our young people continue to benefit from Scotland’s world-class education system.
“Our priority is to maintain teacher numbers in line with pupil intake.”
However, while welcoming any investment that would increase teacher numbers Labour’s education spokesman Iain Gray said: “This announcement is designed to hide the fact that every year the SNP Government has seen fewer teachers actually teaching our children.
“Indeed we have lost 4000 teaching jobs during the SNP’s time in office.”