MORAY’S TEACHER SHORTAGE was raised in the Scottish Parliament yesterday – with local MSP Richard Lochhead extracting a promise from John Swinney to visit the region and discuss the issue.
Mr Swinney accepted the invitation to meet with local teachers after being tackled by Mr Lochhead during education questions in the Holyrood parliament.
The exchange came after the SNP MSP asked the education minister “what steps the Scottish Government has been taking to encourage people to take up teaching posts in Moray”. Mr Swinney responded by listing the actions that were being taken by the Government, including supporting the University of Aberdeen in its distance learning primary teacher education course.
Mr Swinney also said they were supporting the UHI in offering education in secondary subjects at Moray College and working with the GTC in delivery of recent initiatives to allow teachers with non-Scottish qualifications to be registered while undergoing top-up training.
Following the exchange Mr Lochhead said: “I was pleased to have the opportunity to raise Moray’s teacher shortage directly with the Education Secretary in the Scottish Parliament and I’m delighted that he has made a commitment to visit Moray to meet with some of our excellent teachers.
“While the teacher shortage in Moray remains challenging, it is clear the that the Scottish Government is committed to working with Moray Council, UHI and the General Teaching Council to increase the number of teachers working in our schools and that is something I very much welcome.
“John Swinney committed to exploring some of the difficulties Moray Council has been having around the allocation of Newly Qualified Teachers.
“I will be keeping a close eye on how that progresses and I very much look forward to welcoming the Education Secretary to Moray soon.”