Funding for more teacher training places confirmed for 2016/17.
Over £2 million funding is being made available to train an extra 260 teachers next year.
More places will also be made available at all of Scotland’s teacher education universities.
Dumfries and Galloway Council and University of the West of Scotland’s ‘grow your own teacher scheme’ will benefit from additional investment in the coming year, increasing the number of training places from 9 primary school paces last year to 20 primary and 10 secondary places in 2016.
The increase of 60 primary and 200 secondary student teacher places will bring the total intake to 3,490, a rise for the fifth year in a row. This breaks down as:
• 1,230 post-graduate primary places – up 60 on last year’s target
• 710 undergraduate primary places
• 1,350 secondary places – up 185 on last year’s target
• 200 undergraduate secondary places – up 15 on last year’s target
A teacher recruitment campaign was launched in September with a focus on attracting teachers in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) subjects.
The Scottish Government is also asking the new Strategic Board for Teacher Education to consider whether further actions are needed to make sure we have the right numbers of teachers in our schools.
Education Secretary Angela Constance said:
“We want to make sure we have the right number of skilled teachers in our schools to help all of our young people to succeed.
“That’s why we worked with local authorities to maintain teacher numbers this year and aim to do the same again next year, with a further £51 million funding.
“And why we are increasing student places for the fifth year in a row, targeting them at areas where they are needed most such as Aberdeen and Highlands and Islands universities.
“We have upped last year’s student teacher targets for science, technology, engineering and maths and we know these will be challenging for the universities to meet. I will be asking the new Strategic Board for Teacher Education to look at our workforce planning, particularly in the secondary sector, to consider whether there is more we can do.
“We also launched a teacher recruitment campaign in September with a focus on the STEM subjects and we are working with the universities to maximise its impact.”
MSP for the South of Scotland Aileen McLeod today (Tuesday) welcomed the announcement by the Scottish Government that D&G Council and University of the West of Scotland’s grow your own teacher scheme will benefit from additional investment in the coming year, increasing the number of training places from 9 primary school paces last year to 20 primary and 10 secondary places in 2016.
Commenting Aileen said:
“The Council’s grow your own scheme is a good one and one thing I do think the current administration has got right. I am very pleased therefore that this year will see a very significant increase in the numbers of trainees in the scheme, from 9 last year to 30 this year.
“This announcement is a clear demonstration that the Scottish Government is listening to local authorities and investing in specific local measures to tackle the particular problems with recruiting professionals which affect many rural areas of Scotland.”
