'Miracle' standards remain high due to teacher crisis
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That’s according to Councillor George Alexander, who was one of a number of elected members who this week expressed grave concerns over the teacher shortage that has hit the area over the past three years.
They were speaking at Moray Council’s meeting of the children and young people’s services committee on Wednesday (August 23), during which numerous councillors praised school staff for coping.
Committee chairman Tim Eagle, Conservative for Buckie, said "teachers do a fantastic job in very difficult circumstances".
Cllr Alexander, Independent for Forres, added: "That’s true throughout Moray. It’s a miracle standards have stayed as high as they have and that’s purely through the efforts of staff."
Education and social care director, Laurence Findlay, told the meeting that there are currently 42 teacher vacancies.
However, he said that was "masking a bigger problem", as in a number of schools, deputes and headteachers were covering the teaching in some classes.
"I would say the actual figure is well in excess of 50.
"While there is an increase in teachers being trained there also an increase in vacancies. The supply is still not meeting demand."
Mr Findlay was also asked about the situation with supply teacher cover.
"It has vastly improved from two years ago, but we are still nowhere near where we were five years ago, and that’s where we need to be," he said.
Buckie High School headteacher, Neil Johnson, attended the meeting.
He was asked by Cllr Eagle whether the teacher shortage was having "a real impact on the education of our children".
"Yes it is, and it has been for a number of years now," Mr Johnson replied.
"We find there are gaps in the curriculum area. We then fill them, and there is a shortage somewhere else.
"Pupils are forced to take subjects they do not want to take because there is a specialist teacher. It’s a significant pressure on us as a secondary school and it is a constant cause for concern for primary schools."
Derek Ross, Independent for Speyside Glenlivet, also praised teachers in Moray.
However, he expressed concerns after hearing of some Additional Support Needs teachers having to be pulled from their usual responsibilities to cover other classes, so those classes were not sent home.
"That’s got huge impacts in terms of closing the attainment gap," he said.
Cllr Eagle urged teachers from elsewhere in Scotland to consider teaching in Moray.
"We need to come together on this. You can’t get better than Moray, and we have wonderful children who want to learn," he said.
Mr Findlay highlighted work that is being completed by the Northern Alliance – which has representatives from Moray, Aberdeenshire and Highland – and is looking at how to bring more teachers to northern Scotland.
"We want to further enhance teacher training in the north and north-east and attract more probationers to the area," he said.
However, further concerns were expressed over new school governance plans being written-up by the Scottish Government, and how those might impact on the future recruitment of teachers and especially headteachers.
A report that went to the committee highlighted the Scottish Government proposals, being led by education secretary John Swinney.
These proposals include "sweeping new powers for schools", the report stated, including giving individual schools responsibility for raising attainment and closing the poverty-related gap, choosing school staff and their management structure, deciding curriculum content, and directly controlling more school funding.
However, the report also stated that amongst schools, there is "little support for further devolution of finance or governance to a school level", and while there was backing for greater flexibility in using resources, "there was concern about further decentralisation and the ability of school staff to cope".
Moray has also had problems recruiting headteachers, with almost a quarter of primary positions lying empty at the end of the last school term.
Some councillors on Wednesday said they were worried how the proposed changes would impact future recruitment.
"We are still going through a consultation but the message seems to come through loud and clear that teachers don’t really want more responsibility," said Cllr Alexander.
"We already have headteachers who should not be teaching but are having to spend time in class."
Cllr Ross added: "We have difficulty enough recruiting headteachers at the moment. Delivering more powers to them is going to exacerbate that problem.
"If the aim of this government is to close the attainment gap it is my opinion that this won’t. What will is more teachers, more pupil support assistants and smaller class sizes.
"Tinkering with the governance of education won’t close the gap. It will further centralise an already centralised system in Scotland."
Mr Findlay highlighted some of the pressure that have been facing school staff over the past few years.
"Education Scotland since its inception in 2010 has become a huge organisation," he said.
"Some 20,000 pages of guidance went to schools. At the time they were supposed to be decluttering the system at a national level, but it’s just been adding and adding.
"It’s really confused people and really confused teachers. A huge amount of streamlining has been done, but there’s still a lot more to do."
