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MORAY COUNCIL HAS rejected claims that it has been guilty of slashing their advertising budget in the face of crippling budget cut-backs – and difficulties in recruiting teaching staff.
The denials come as reports indicate the local authority had spent just under £20,000 on advertising vacant posts in the year to March 2017 – compared to over £110,000 for the same purpose a year earlier.
That has brought accusations that not enough was being done to publicise teaching posts in the region. However, the local authority insist that the reduction reflects a change in how and where they advertise – and that there had been no difference in the number of applications for vacancies.
Councillor Tim Eagle, chair of the children and young people’s services committee, said that previously the education department carried out ‘huge’ advertising campaigns in major teaching publications – and these cost thousands of pounds each.
He added: “Despite needing a lot of teachers, the department knew we were also very short on money – and so that was pulled back a bit to focus on getting the message out but not spending the big bucks on advertising.”
The Conservative leader at Moray Council added that a slightly different tack was being taken in filling vacancies, such as looking at what supply teachers they had already in Moray who were currently not working.
While criticism has been levelled recently that job vacancies were not being advertised by Moray Council, a spokeswoman for the local authority has confirmed that last year paid advertising was placed in such as student and armed forces magazines.
She said: “The council spent significantly on various campaigns and adverts, including inserts in high-profile specialist publications aimed at the teaching profession. Reviewing feedback from candidates, most people applying for teaching posts were doing so through the myjobscotland website as this was the recognised route.”
The Council say that their work to attract new teachers was continuing through traditional media by highlighting the issues being faced by the region.