CRITICS have attacked Scotland’s school staffing crisis after the number of unfilled teacher vacancies approached 700.

Research by The Herald shows in the week pupils started the new term councils were reporting 686 vacancies.

Although it is likely some of these vacancies will be filled over the coming weeks the number sparked concern from opposition politicians.

Liz Smith, Scottish Conservative education spokeswoman, said the figures were “a damning indictment” of SNP ministers.

She said: “The boom and bust approach to training has left schools in the lurch.

“This can only result in a reduced standard of education for pupils, and will leave those teachers who are in the classroom overstretched.”

Scottish Labour’s education spokesman Iain Gray added: “This is the clearest evidence yet of the staffing crisis the SNP has created in Scottish teaching.

“Since 2007 we have 4,000 fewer teachers, increased class sizes and hundreds of unfilled posts.”

Scottish Labour have called on schools quango Education Scotland to report on the impact of cuts to education.

Ross Greer, education spokesman for the Scottish Greens, accused the Scottish Government of trying to “cut corners”.

He said: “The solution is not to put under-qualified graduates in the classroom without proper training, it is to invest more money in education.”

However, the Scottish Government argued that significant steps had been taken to improve the situation.

A spokesman said: “Although teacher recruitment is a matter for local authorities, we recognise some areas have faced challenges filling vacancies, which is why we have taken decisive action to recruit and retain teachers.

“This includes investing £88m this year alone so every school has access to the right number of teachers.

“This investment has enabled local authorities to maintain the pupil teacher ratio and halted a period of steady decline in teacher recruitment by councils, resulting in 253 more teachers last year - the first substantial increase since 2007.”

Councils facing some of the most acute shortages include those in the North East such as Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire and Moray which have struggled to recruit in the past few years. Highland, Glasgow and Edinburgh also have high numbers of unfilled vacancies.

Teacher recruitment has emerged as a significant issue across Scotland with shortages in key subject areas such as science and computing as well as in rural areas.

As a result the Scottish Government has proposed a number of controversial fast-track teach training options to get new staff into schools more quickly.

However, teaching unions argue the main problem is pay and conditions with the increasing workload of staff putting off recruits at a time when salaries have declined in real terms.

A spokesman for council umbrella body Cosla said the issue of recruiting teachers had been problematic for a number of years and remained so.

He said: “Councils do their best to attract teaching talent to their area with many offering incentives, but there is no magic wand that can be waved as our young people return to their classrooms over the coming days.

“This is a long-term problem that will require a long term solution - especially for those councils who have real issues with recruitment.”

Last year, research by the Scottish Liberal Democrats revealed a similar figure with some 572 vacancies remaining unfilled at the beginning of the 2016 school year.