SCOTLAND'S secondary schools are facing a crisis in teacher recruitment, with applications to training colleges down by almost a third on last year.

Graduates are voting with their feet and seeking jobs in professions where salaries, benefits and overall conditions of employment are more attractive.

Uncertainty is also a disincentive to trainee teachers, many of whom spend years on supply contracts before landing a permanent job.

The issue was raised by a delegation of head teachers at a meeting with Scottish Secretary Donald Dewar and Scottish Education Minister Brian Wilson yesterday.

It will also be discussed at a meeting today between teaching unions and the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council which has recently taken over responsibility for setting intake levels at teacher training colleges.

It is claimed honours graduates are put off joining the profession for a starting salary of #14,362 after five years of study.

The majority of secondary teachers in Scotland are over 35. Recent changes to pension arrangements mean more teachers are forced to continue working until official retirement age.

A Government document, obtained by The Herald, reveals the council has been unable to plan a national level of teacher numbers because of the unpredictability of students' career choices and the relative attractiveness of alternative employment prospects.

The letter, signed by the council's chief executive, Professor John Sizer, acknowledges ''concerns about the effects which the large reductions in intakes over recent years were having on the academic and financial health of ITE (initial teacher education) providers.''

The council has maintained intake targets at 2077 at Scotland's eight teacher training colleges, despite a downturn in applications to post-graduate courses of between 20% and 30% for all courses.

Mr Ivor Sutherland, registrar of the General Teaching Council, said: ''There's going to be a supply issue hitting us in the next few years. I am convinced of that.

''The evidence is there for all to see in the decrease in the number of applicants for post-graduate teacher training courses over the last couple of years. We are talking about a decrease of between 20% and 30% in the last year. That's a lot of people.

''You will eventually get to a point where, not only will you not make the target, quality may suffer as well.

''There are all kinds of factors involved but salaries is the main one. With the upturn in the economy the big multi-nationals are creaming off the good people. If Shell is offering a young physics graduate #25,000 to start, what chance has teaching?''

Barbara Clark, assistant general secretary of the Scottish Secondary Teachers Association, said: ''You have to remember that a Scottish honours graduate going into teaching has completed five years of study which is a long time. Their salaries are not comparable with other professions.''

Tino Ferri, executive member of the national Association of Schoolmasters/Union of Women Teachers, said: ''We have taken soundings among graduates and salaries is the main issue. They are saying that the prospect of earning #21,000 after 10 years in the job is not exactly appealing. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you don't pay the graduates the proper rates for the job, obviously they will not be attracted into teaching.''

President of the Headteachers' Association of Scotland Derek McGinn, who attended yesterday's meeting in his capacity at head of Culloden Academy in Inverness, said: ''The sort of figure being quoted for a starting salary in some industries was the equivalent of the top of the teachers' salary scale.

''What we were saying to the Secretary of State and the Minister was that there's a need to look at the whole business of teachers' salaries. There are parts of the country where graduates can't get a start.''

In the secondary sector, more than 50% of teachers are currently in promoted posts. The Government has already signalled its desire to reduce the number of such posts, freeing extra cash to pay higher salaries to dedicated classroom teachers.

Following yesterday's meeting Mr Dewar said the structure of promoted posts would be reviewed in light of the findings of the Millennium Review which is due to report in the summer.

He added: ''We certainly want to look at this and see what progress can be made. It's something we have been talking about for some time. It's on the agenda.''

Mr Wilson added: ''The need to keep good teachers at the chalkface was emphasised. Unnecessary bureaucracy can hinder teachers' ability to get on with classroom teaching and we shared views on how to cut down the paperwork burden. Possible reforms of the promoted posts structure were also raised.''

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