Hows about you get rid of all the talentless teachers who have been milking the system for years aided and abetted by the criminal system of allowing cooncils to run the hiring and firing of teachers. Give the power to head teachers and they we may have a small chance that state schools will be able to get really good quality teachers - the equal of those in the private sector.

This is not News, my daughter had the same problem 4years ago after qualifying as a teacher to find work, to the extent that she had to move from Edinburgh to Aberdeen to get work as a teacher.

It was a worrying and stressful time for her, how ridiculous Edinburgh don't want new teachers!

It boils down to the ridiculous structures and rules new teachers have to adhere to, ones to which the techers union,...

"Cut off one's nose to spite one's face"

What proportion of other new graduates are already in full time employment? A comparison would be interesting. Is it only teachers who expect to walk into a job on their doorstep?

Teaching is one of the few 'jobs for life' professionas left. There are many excellent teachers but you really have to be execrable to get fired.

We now live in a society that no longer values education. Witness the ignorance and cynicism of many bloggers who post their dismal opinions on the Scotsman website. Of course ultimately politicians are to blame for this. The imposition of business models on schools where teachers have become providers and pupils have become customers has completely undermined the system. Trenchers are now regarded with low esteem, often subject to abuse and blamed when the results do not please. There seems to be little recognition now that education is a two way process. It is a disgrace that new graduates who are generally enthusiastic are unable to gain employment in what used to be a noble profession. As education is a devolved responsibility in Scotland why can't the Scottish government show some leadership and vision here? One of our aims should be to create a knowledge-based economy. We need more physicists, chemists engineers, biotechnologists etc. The sad thing is that we have the talent to achieve this but the political will is lacking.

Charles, your daughter didn't have to move to get a job. As a teaching professional she had to put distance betweeen herself and your "unique" language skills. :o)

There's only so much you can do with a media studies graduate.

Why aren't they more realistic in their expectations? If the teaching thing isn't working out, why don't they approach one of the many retail outlets and fast food places that are desperately seeking reliable employees?

We are in a global recession. Darling has already admitted that it is likely to get worse (global depression), so people need to get realistic and accept what ever opportunities are available.

No 6. Though I agree with you that people have to be flexible, a degree in teaching is geared towards a specific job - it is vocational. So, there should be some measure in the way that numbers of potential graduates is linked to the number of jobs available.

With so many problems already existing in the education sector, it is the government's duty to ensure that teachers are properly prepared in their subjects. Something that is not always the case. And future teachers should perhaps be vetted for psychological compatibility with the job, given that it is a stressful and demanding one.

One big bugbear for me is the way that supply teachers are chosen. Teachers who retire voluntarily due to stress and disenchantment, should not be allowed to then work as supply teachers - and should give other more capable teachers a chance.

#3 - "What proportion of other new graduates are already in full time employment? ... Is it only teachers who expect to walk into a job on their doorstep?"

Most new teachers have first degrees in something else and take a teaching qualification like the PGDE (Post Graduate Diploma in Education) in order to teach. After their first degree they are no more guaranteed a job than anyone else. The difference comes once they are interviewed for and accepted onto a PGDE course. The Scottish Executive, not the teacher training colleges, sets quotas on the number of teachers to be trained in each subject. These quotas are based on the exec's own projections on the number of vacancies that it will need to fill. There shouldn't be any slack in the system - allowing for a small drop-out rate there should be vacancies at the end of training for those trained.

Except somewhere in the system the arithmetic is failing. There is a huge difference between the estimated and actual number of vacancies this year. What it really comes down to is cost-cutting by the Councils. Rather than increase spending on education in line with inflation, Councils are demanding that schools make 'efficiency' cuts in their budgets even though they have no spare money as it is. There's only so much money that can be saved on pencils and books so schools are forced to cut staff. The end results are schools without adequate provision for classroom and learning assistants, understaffed departments and restrictions on pupil subject choices. It also means that newly qualified teachers can't find the work that they were recruited for.

We need an immediate moratorium on the training of new teachers rather than condemn another 3400 NQTs to the same fate.

King Banana,

You confrim my suspicions - that whereas virtually every other graduate in the country takes personal resonsibility for selecting a degree and career - new graduates in teaching expect a job to be waiting for them and if their isn't then it's someone elses fault.

Many other graduates have to travel or move to get jobs.

However, it does mean that headteachers now have a real choice and there is competition like in other professions.

Vincent - you misunderstand, perhaps deliberately.

"Many other graduates have to travel or move to get jobs."
This is true of graduate teachers too

"whereas virtually every other graduate in the country takes personal resonsibility for selecting a degree and career - new graduates in teaching expect a job to be waiting for them"

They did take responsibility - they qualified in a subject and then undertook the necessary teaching certificate. You can't just sign up for teacher training - you are interviewed by the Initial Teacher Training provider with regards to suitability and screened using Disclosure Scotland.

This is not the same as someone coming out of University with a 2:2 in History and then wondering why there isn't a guaranteed job waiting. It is more akin to RBS identifying a shortage of 200 Financial Advisors, advertising for 200 new recruits, training them up centrally and then allowing RBS branches to NOT employ the newly qualified FAs because it's inconvenient for them. It would still leave RBS 200 people short. Or perhaps it's more like RBS outsourcing FA training and putting in an order for 200 new FAs every year and then just shrugging their shoulders and saying "oopsie!" once the newly qualified FAs are ready to start work.

The point is that newly qualified teachers have *already been recruited*. They were recruited two years previously when the Executive placed its 'order' for various flavours of teacher
("Oh hi!, Is that Moray House? I'd like to place an order for some teachers: I need 250 Primary teachers, 100 maths, 80 English, 35 French, 2 German, 46 Physics, 8 Biologists and an RMPS. Can I have them delivered by August 2009 please?)

No private company would behave in such a manner and the authorities in Scotland shouldn't be so perverse either.

KB, yes perhaps a little disingenuous, but I get fed up with the 'shock horror'headlines when the actual issue is a slight miscalculation - based on last years experience there will be ample opportunities by the end of the year.

Morning, All,

My mother was a music teacher in primary schools for over 36 years and still teaches relief and privately. She recently had the questionable joy of teaching a so-called qualified music teacher how to read music in order to get his first job. How can it be that many (not all) of today's newly qualified educators are not actually properly trained to do the job they are supposed to impart to others?!

I am an experienced/seasoned first grade(P2)teacher in the US who would love the opportunity to teach in Scotland. A few years back, I thought that my "ship had come in " because Scotland was actively recruiting teachers from outside the country. Circumstances prevented me from applying, but I kept a close eye on the education sector in Scotland. Of course, all I know is what I read in the online publications, such as the Scotsman, TES, and other "reputable " sites. I listen to BBC Scotland regularly to stay abreast of education, and other pertinent, issues. Amazingly, the following year there was an over abundance of teachers and many were unable to secure a full-time position. It is most unlikely that the teacher shortage remedied itself in a twelve month period, and the pendulum swung to the other side. Does anyone have a reasonable answer to explain the two extremes?