Inspectors: Teacher and headteacher shortages 'damaging' pupils' education

The report by schools inspectorate Education Scotland said: "Inspectors found that too many primary schools do not yet have robust information about children’s attainment and achievement.

"In these schools, approaches to tracking and monitoring children’s progress were not effective and, as a result, did not support staff to improve children’s attainment and achievement.

"We also found that, in some schools, difficulties in recruiting replacement headteachers and staff were having an impact on the ability of schools to improve the quality of their work."

The concerns were echoed in the secondary sector with the report, which is published every four years, concluding staff shortages were partly responsible for problems in the development of Curriculum for Excellence.

Inspectors said: "Many schools need to do more to develop the quality of the... education they offer in the first three years of secondary school, to ensure it provides sufficient depth and challenge to enable all learners to achieve their potential.

"The quality of learning that young people experienced varied too much within schools and between schools. In some schools we found that the level of variability was increased by difficulties in recruiting staff."

The report comes as teaching unions have issued warnings over the impact of staff shortages, with figures showing 100 headteacher and deputy posts unfilled at the start of the school year.

There have also been concerns over shortages of specialist teachers in key subjects such as mathematics, physics and computing with Scottish Government targets for training places not being filled.

Greg Dempster, general secretary of the Association of Headteachers and Deputes in Scotland, which represents the primary sector, called for action.

He said: "For several years there has been a shortage of classroom teachers which has combined with budget cuts resulting in schools having less support from local authority headquarters, less management time within the school and fewer support and administration staff.

"School leaders are stretched in all directions trying to cover for teacher shortages and absence or spending increased time supporting individual pupils who would previously have been in specialist provision or would have had a dedicated support assistant."

Jim Thewliss, general secretary of School Leaders Scotland, which represents the secondary sector, added: "It is a very real dilemma for schools who find it difficult to recruit staff.

"The question is whether to appoint someone just because they are available because it means you can continue to run a particular subject or wait for the right candidate to come along."

Dr Bill Maxwell, chief executive of Education Scotland, said: "Schools are keeping running, but these shortages impact in a number of ways including the lack of development time for teaching staff.

"The best practice is driven by strong leadership and any sign that it is difficult to attract individuals for key posts is a concern, which is partly why we have a focus on all teachers as leaders working across schools."

Meanwhile, Larry Flanagan, general secretary of the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) teaching union, called for Education Scotland to be more proactive in supporting schools and teachers.

He added: "One thing that is very clear throughout the report is the degree of change compared to the scale of cuts throughout education, and this will continue to create challenges until the politics of austerity cease and education budgets are substantially increased.”

Overall, the report identifies five areas for further improvement despite the "many strengths" across all sectors of education from nursery to college.

Inspectors called for better implementation of Curriculum for Excellence, more thorough assessment and tracking of pupils' progress, a greater focus on partnerships with parents, improved self-evaluation by pupils and a stronger culture of collaboration between schools.

Inspectors said Scottish education has gone through a period of "very significant reform", impacting on every part of the system during the period covered by the report.

Strengths include a "strong commitment" of headteachers and other staff to improving outcomes for pupils and a continual improvement in the quality of learning leading to well motivated and engaged pupils.

Education provision was also found to be "highly inclusive" and more young people are having a wider range of their achievements accredited through youth award schemes.