During The Herald's special on Scotland's Housing Emergency, we have examined the impact on communities, and the people living in them, across Scotland. Now, education writers Garrett Stell and James McEnaney analyse the impact of housing shortages on teachers and schools in Scotland.

In large parts of Scotland, attracting and retaining teachers has become a pressing and persistent challenge.

According to the Teach in Scotland website – which includes a specific section to encourage people to teach in rural areas – the government has identified “target areas for staff, particularly in secondary subjects”, which “cover a vast sweep of Scotland beyond the Central Belt.”

The council areas involved are Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, Argyll and Bute, the Western Isles, Highland, Moray, Orkney and Shetland. Across this whole region, 74% of schools are classified as rural, with the total number accounting for just over half of all rural schools in the entire country.

Teachers working on islands classed as ‘distant’ are entitled to a salary increase of nearly £3000 per year. In some cases, relocation packages are also on offer – but they vary depending on the specific policies of individual councils.

Aberdeenshire, for example, will reimburse new teaching staff for their moving costs up to £8000; Moray helps newly qualified teachers to find temporary accommodation in order to help them get started, and provides a relocation package of up to £5400 for those moving to the area “to take up a permanent hard-to-fill post or promoted position”; Highland Council offers what they call “a generous relocation and removal package” which “includes a contribution towards rental, removal expenses and travel” and are able to directly offer accommodation in a “small number of cases”.

In Orkney, probationer teachers from outwith the archipelago are offered accommodation for their initial year in an attempt to make it easier for those from other parts of Scotland to take up teaching posts, although in recent years newly qualified teachers in Orcadian schools have tended to come from the islands themselves.

The council has also identified a need to build more than 1,000 houses over the next ten years, with calculations informed by factors including the need to provide homes for key workers, including education staff and families with school-aged children.

In Shetland, a ‘home-grown teacher’ scheme aims to support existing workers to become educators through a part-time programme run by the University of the Highlands and Islands. Progress in this area could offer greater stability in terms of education planning and provision, as housing is less likely to be a barrier.

For incoming teachers, however, the housing challenge can be a serious hurdle, and one that magnifies a range of other issues, from the lack of nearby family to the impact of the weather. Just finding any accommodation isn’t really a solution either—some make several moves in an attempt to find something that meets their needs—and the cost of living can be a shock to those from further south.

Even so, the teacher retention rate has improved recently, with the council attributing this success to relocation incentives, positive stories from new residents and even a subtle nudge from one of television’s most popular detective programmes.

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Nonetheless, housing and teacher shortages go hand in hand, and one of the most direct consequences of a school's teacher shortage is cuts to the curriculum. Data shows that 636 advertised teaching posts had to be relisted in 2021/22, with science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses often being the hardest to fill.

Although councils struggle to recruit for various reasons, in the case of Scotland’s rural areas, it often comes down to the availability and suitability of housing. A group of parents in Highland Council have been fighting to save their rural schools, and the availability and affordability of housing are at the heart of their struggle.

They have told The Herald about how population changes in the area have led to a slow erosion of teacher numbers, course offerings, and students at Ullapool, Gairloch, Kinlochbervie, and Farr High Schools.

The schools are situated in parts of the Highlands that are popular tourist destinations but have lower permanent populations. In some cases, holiday homes prove stiff competition for longer-term rentals or opportunities for homeowners, and the parents have said that direct action is needed to make the area more attractive for new teachers.

They recently secured a meeting with Education Secretary Jenny Gilruth, and one of their campaign asks is for the council to fund more competitive relocation packages similar to those available for island postings and support more affordable housing in their area:

“Our four high schools cover an area of over 2,000 square miles. We believe we, like small island schools, should be given the additional benefits when it comes to encouraging teachers to relocate to our areas.”

The parents are also pressing for changes to the council’s staffing formula and funding allocations, but they said addressing the housing situation is urgent. 

As the campaigners advocate for change, they may find traction with the Scottish Government, which supports local authorities' ability to tailor incentive packages to meet their needs.

When approached by The Herald, a spokesperson said that it is "important that we recognise the specific context of our rural schools, which is why local councils currently have the autonomy to provide incentives to attract teachers to their area."

They added: "It is right that any decision to do so is taken at a local level given that local authorities are responsible for the recruitment and deployment of their staff.”

It takes time to plan and build suitable homes, and the decline in school roles builds momentum as more families move away, the council struggles to recruit new teachers, and courses drop from the curriculum.

This is not a problem found only in the Highlands, or in places north of the central belt - the link between housing and education provision is also significant in other areas.

In Dalry, Dumfries and Galloway, parents and community campaigners have been fighting the council’s plans to mothball the local secondary school, which the authority has argued is necessary due to very low intake numbers. However, local people argue that a lack of appropriate and affordable housing has forced some people to leave and prevented others from coming back, making it more difficult to increase pupil numbers at the school, while also making the area less attractive to teachers.

But other parts of Scotland have seen a shift in the opposite direction, with perhaps the most famous recent example being Ulva Ferry. A generation ago, the community faced the threat of their local primary school being closed due to the long-term decline in the local population. In response, the community pushed to have new, affordable homes built in the area—a goal that was first realised in 2017 and then expanded upon in 2021.

By August of that year, the school roll stood at fifteen, with eleven of those children living in housing owned by the Mull and Iona Community Trust - and the future of the school had been secured.

Building homes takes time, and building back communities takes longer. But Ulva Ferry is one of many small communities in Scotland that have proven that it has staying power when given a fighting chance.