Bleak future for teachers

Those long summer holidays are drawing to a close and the new school term is just around the corner.

Soon mums and dads will be trailing their children round the shops, forking out for new uniforms and all the other accessories they will need for the first day back.

After seven weeks off, many of the pupils will be glad to be returning to class and I am sure even more parents will be happy to be dropping them off at the school gates again.

But spare a thought for those who won’t be going back to school after the summer – the probationary teachers.

In Scotland, we guarantee trainees 12 months as a probationer but it is once they have completed that invaluable first year that the problems begin.

Too many probationers and too few jobs is causing heartache for these young people who just want to put into practice what they have learned.

Last year, only six probationary teachers out of 70 in Inverclyde managed to get full-time jobs while another 27 got supply positions.

Unfortunately, we have made little progress and have precious few vacancies, forcing people to look further afield for work.

These people are eager to give our children the benefit of their training and enthusiasm but aren’t being allowed to because of a chronic lack of jobs.

Sadly, it is not just those currently trainees who face a bleak future in teaching.

To curb the demand for teaching places, changes are to be made to the support funding for those taking on post-grad courses to limit access and discourage applicants.

For many families concerned about their children’s education, they won’t be happy that the teaching crisis has been allowed to get to this point.

If a generation of people are shut out of the teaching profession, the fear is it will be those pupils who ultimately lose out.