Teacher recruitment for Stem subjects is ‘woeful’ – Labour

Recruitment of teachers for science, technology, engineering and mathematics (Stem) subjects in schools is “woeful”, Scottish Labour has said.

The party highlighted that the 2022 intake of student teachers was below targets in a number of areas.

For maths, there was an intake of 114, while the target was 250.

In chemistry, the target was 159 with an intake of 48 student teachers, while a shortfall of 71 teachers was recorded for physics.

Labour’s education spokesman Michael Marra said the initial teacher education figures were “nothing short of woeful” and should spark serious concern for the future of the profession.

Mr Marra said: “It is clear for all to see that urgent action is needed to secure the future of Stem education in Scotland and to allow young people to have access to a high-quality education that will equip them for the jobs of the future.

“The government’s Stem strategy implementation group is clearly not working.

“Shockingly, the last published minutes of a meeting of that group date back to September 2019.

“Whether this is a lack of transparency or a lack of action, one thing is clear: Scotland’s young people will be the ones to suffer.

“Increasing targets is pointless if you then fail to meet them and do nothing about it.

“It’s high time that (Education Secretary) Shirley-Anne Somerville got to grips with the teacher recruitment crisis before Scotland’s children pay the price.”

Ms Somerville stated: “We are working to ensure we maximise the number of people educated and skilled in Stem subjects, as we know these are the skills which will be required to meet the challenges of today and the future economy.

“The Scottish Government offered 150 bursaries this year of £20,000 for career changers to do teacher training in Stem subjects where the demand for teachers is at its greatest.

“I am committed to recruiting more teachers and recently set out measures to Parliament making it clear that we will provide £145.5 million in next year’s budget to protect increased teacher numbers and support staff.

“Where this is not being delivered by a local authority, we will withhold or recoup funding which has been given for this purpose.”

The Education Secretary continued: “Local authorities are responsible for the recruitment and deployment of their staff and we will continue to do everything we can to help them maximise the number of jobs available for teachers, including permanent posts.”