SCOTLAND STILL LEADS UK IN TEACHER EMPLOYMENT

SCOTLAND STILL LEADS UK IN TEACHER EMPLOYMENT

MORE ENGLISH TEACHERS REGISTERING IN SCOTLAND THAN VICE VERSA

Christina McKelvie MSP has welcomed figures published by the Scottish Government today which show that, contrary to reports, there is no ‘exodus’ of teachers from Scotland and that, in fact, there are more English teachers registering to work in Scotland than vice versa.

Today’s statistics also show that Scotland continues to have the lowest level of teacher unemployment in the UK and that teacher unemployment in Scotland has halved in the last seven months.

Ms McKelvie, an SNP member of the Scottish Parliament’s Education and Lifelong Learning Committee, said:
“These figures show that Scotland is a good place to be a teacher and belies claims that teaching professionals are deserting Scotland.

“It was always fanciful to claim that a relatively small number of people choosing to work outside Scotland signalled some kind of crisis in Scottish education, and today’s figures confirm that an exchange of teachers across the border is entirely normal.

“The fact that more teachers are coming north to Scotland from England than the other way round shows that the good reputation of Scotland’s education system as a good place to work remains intact.

“Any qualified teacher being unable to find a job is a matter of regret, but it is a fact that teachers still have a better chance of finding work in Scotland than elsewhere in the UK.

“Action taken by this SNP government has driven teacher unemployment down by more than half since last August, despite the tough employment conditions caused by the recession, and I’m confident that it will fall further still in the months to come.

“This, along with the work done by Education Secretary Michael Russell to ensure that the Curriculum for Excellence - long delayed by previous administrations - will reach classrooms this autumn, shows that the SNP is driving forward its commitments to Scottish teachers and Scottish education.”