I FOUND it unsurprising to read that Scotland is dramatically short of teachers (“Hundreds of teachers are needed ahead of new term”, The Herald, August 4) .The emerging issue is compounded by the fact that there is often a domino effect on teacher morale and increasingly stretched serving staff are more likely to seek early retirement.

I suggest that the lack of recruitment is partly the price being paid for the irreparable damage caused to the reputation of the profession by the fallout from the so-called Curriculum for Excellence (CfE), floundering since its inception. Indirectly, I believe another important causal factor in recent years is the mandatory requirement for students entering the profession to have first gained a university degree. In the United States a number of states where the shortage issue is also acute have reviewed and changed their academic entrance requirements. They did this in full knowledge that there is no published research evidence which proves that demanding higher academic qualifications results in more effective teachers and teaching.

The developing consequence has been that graduates who consider drifting into teaching realise that they can also drift out, as their original academic degree gives them transferability to seek alternative employment. The latest official statistics show that the UK has currently the highest employment rate since 1971 so there are other opportunities out there. In past times when teachers gained a specialist teaching diploma from teacher training colleges they had to be certain that they were entering the correct vocation for them and be confident they would be committed to it. This was particularly notable in primary education.

The suggestion by the Scottish Government to introduce “fast tracking” measures sounds as desperate as the post-war emergency training of returning ex-servicemen via diluted courses. This is the time the General Teaching Council in Scotland (GTCS) should ask itself, what are the qualities of an effective teacher? It appears to be colluding with higher education establishments in maintaining an academic mask of professionalism instead of fostering alternative routes into teaching in order to attract the right people.

Bill Brown,

46 Breadie Drive, Milngavie.

THE recent figures released by the Scottish Parliament Information Centre clearly show what every teacher in Scotland is all too aware of. In the 10 years of SNP control, actual spending on education has fallen by £400 million annually. Factor in inflation and the drop in spending for schools has been seismic. Teachers now contend with larger class sizes, rising levels of indiscipline and a serious lack of resources which constrains and limits their teaching.

On a day to day basis, what is the impact? In secondary schools pupils have access to far fewer textbooks and teachers have little or no access to photocopying. Information is relayed on screen in the classroom and pupils need internet access at home to revise or complete homework. Is it any wonder that there is such a large gap in attainment between the more and the less advantaged?

Science lessons are far less practical because the chemicals and equipment are too expensive for experiments. Home economics has become theoretical only for the same reason, despite the urgent need in Scotland to improve cooking skills and nutrition.

Large class sizes impact on speaking practice in foreign language classes, discussion groups in the social sciences, practical approaches in music lessons. Meanwhile teachers labour under a growing marking burden. Marking 25 essays is time-consuming enough; 30 takes even longer. Probably even more damaging to teacher morale is the steady rise in pupil misbehaviour, far harder to deal with in larger classes. In short, the SNP have created the perfect storm for teachers, resulting in the current shortage of recruits.

Scotland's steady fall down the international rankings comes as no surprise to teachers.

South of the Border, education spending has been maintained in real terms and results have risen, overtaking Scotland's on every measure. The lack of resources in our education system is not the result of Westminster austerity; it is a conscious decision by the SNP to limit spending. Couple this with the 150 000 lost Further Education places and the strict limits on university entrance for Scottish pupils, and the overall loss of opportunity for Scotland's young people is nothing short of tragic.

Carole Ford,

132 Terregles Avenue, Glasgow.

LAST week saw the now, almost annual, story on the number of teacher vacancies across Scotland. Some contextual information might be useful. Of the 32 authorities, 28 responded to enquiries about teacher vacancies. The 28 authorities responding reported 657 vacancies. This is an average of 23 vacancies in each responding authority. Scotland’s larger city authorities have 197 and 142 schools respectively. One of Scotland’s smaller authorities has 22 schools in it. In the summer, as at any time of the year, there will be staff turnover and vacancies in many of these schools.

Two Government figures give some context. Full-time equivalent teachers in Scotland in 2005 was 50,756. In 2016 that numbers was 48,746. The pupil/teacher ratio got better between 2005 (17.0) and 2017 (13.6).

National Record Office figures show a rising population (it has risen for eight years running) and that is projected to continue. Migration is an element of this. There are still, and is projected to be, more deaths than births in Scotland. From 2001/02 to 2005/06 there were more deaths than births. A period of more births than deaths followed in 2006/-7 to 2013/14 before deaths exceeded births again in 2014/15 and 2015/16.

All of this sets the issue in context. We see headlines regularly about "crisis". At the same time we need to be careful what we wish for. A continued narrative of crisis may result in reform. For some, a preferred option for reform remains an approach which will remove the combined knowledge and professionalism development on which a Scottish teacher's craft is based. We have seen how successful recent education reforms can be. All improvement needs a change but not all change leads to improvement. Knee-jerk politicised reactions do not equate to system wide reform which brings significant improvement.

There are certainly specific regional teacher recruitment issues and certain subject areas remain a concern. A solution to regional vacancies is possible. At present probationer teachers get the choice of all Scottish authorities to go to in their induction year. Can authorities feed in their workforce projections into central systems, and then probationers be allocated in a more targeted, "needs" basis? It may mean a year away from home for probationers but thereafter they have ‘the golden ticket’, accessing jobs across the country and internationally. After all, Scotland still holds some world clout in education, for now.

Neil McLennan,

Senior lecturer, School of Education.

University of Aberdeen, King's College, Aberdeen.