Scotland Tonight: 'I've moved to Spain to be a teacher, there are no jobs in Scotland'

The Spanish sun streams through the window of Briony Farrell’s apartment in Madrid, where she teaches at an international school.

It sounds like a dream assignment but it’s not one that Briony wanted to accept.

She would rather still be in Scotland.

However, like many other newly-qualified teachers across the country, she struggled to secure a full-time permanent role.

Due to a lack of available teaching jobs after her probation year, Briony relocated to Spain at great personal expense in order to keep working in her chosen field.

She told Scotland Tonight: “You give your all during that year because you’re hoping for a job at the end of it.

“You’re also desperate to develop your own practice. I had a great, great year, and I hoped that it would lead to a job. But unfortunately, after applying, I was told that my council wasn’t going to be running any interviews at all.

“That was quite disheartening after such a tough but amazing year, one that I really hoped would result in some kind of employment. But unfortunately, that’s not what happened.”

Some new graduates are forced into what are effectively zero-hour contracts when they begin their teaching career, waiting by the phone day after day for supply work.

Others like Briony are leaving Scotland altogether.

She added: “Luckily, I was able to look at jobs abroad, and I did manage to secure a position working in an international school in Spain, which is amazing. But ultimately, it’s not where I want to be.

“I want to be teaching in Scotland, helping Scotland’s young people in my own country, close to my family and friends. It is difficult.”

More than three-quarters of newly qualified primary teachers have been unable to secure full-time permanent jobs.

Official figures published in December show last year’s teacher numbers were down by 621 overall on 2023, with most of the drop accounted for by primary staff.

Furthermore, 26 out of 32 councils reduced teacher numbers, despite the Scottish Government pledging to increase the number of teachers working in schools by 3,500 by 2026.

Teacher numbers also fell in secondary schools and early years centres. Sixty-one fewer teachers were working in secondaries compared to last year and 23 fewer in early years settings.

There are now just 679 teachers working in early years centres in Scotland; in 2018 there were 821.

Briony says she was devastated when she found out there would be no job at the end of her probation year.

“It took a huge mental toll,” she said. “I think we were told not too much further along in the year than this -maybe around March or April – that we wouldn’t even be given the opportunity to interview in our council.

“And then you have to continue the rest of the year, going in every single day, putting on a smile for the kids, dealing with parents, and giving your all, knowing that there won’t be a job for you at the end of it.

“That was really tough, and honestly, I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy. It wasn’t easy at all.”

The proportion of new teachers finding secure work dropped again this year.

Of the primary probationers who completed the teacher induction scheme in 2023-24, just 12.8% were in a permanent job by September 2024. The figure for secondary was 47%.

In 2023, 16.6% of new primary teachers were in permanent work the September after completing their probation. By comparison that figure stood at almost 60% in 2017.

Each year, the Scottish Government, in collaboration with the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) and the Teacher Workforce Planning Advisory Group, determines the number of student teacher places required for training programmes.

The targets are supposed to align the supply of new teachers with the projected demand in Scotland’s schools. In 2024-25, the intake target was set at 4,070 student teachers, maintaining the same level as the previous year.

Briony says the Scottish Government needs to take responsibility for the number of qualified teachers who can’t get work: “First and foremost, the number of PGDE (Postgraduate Diploma in Education) students’ needs to be reduced slightly.

“Every single year, each council in Scotland is given hundreds of new probationers who are just being thrown into the system without any real job prospects, so they need to bring those numbers down.

“Then, they need to do whatever they can to clear this backlog of teachers stuck in the system without opportunities. It’s already terrible that so many teachers can’t get permanent jobs, and I feel for anyone who has been stuck in this situation for years.

“But there are also many teachers who can’t even get supply work. They’re on zero-hour supply contracts with no guarantee of employment, and that really worries me – for the future of the profession and for Scotland’s young people.”

Education minister Jenny Gilruth accepted that many teachers were finding it difficult to find permanent work following their probationary year.

She told Scotland Tonight: “We are training more teachers because we know they make a difference within our schools. We know some of them are finding it challenging to get jobs, and I accept that, and we are working closely with COSLA on that.

“A key part of the budget negotiations that we reached with COSLA is that we will have this Education Assurance Board to look at workforce planning across the piste. We will continue to work with local authorities on permanent contracts.

“The government is investing in Scotland’s teaching workforce and it’s really important that we work with local authorities on a solution here.

“I very much recognise the challenge here, and that’s why through the budget we have created additionality to help encourage local authorities to create permanent teaching contacts.

“We also need to look at the probationer scheme and whether or not that’s working on the ground. The Scottish Government fully funds it and we want to work with COSLA to update that scheme to better meet their needs.”

Scotland Tonight: Spotlight On…The Teaching Jobs Shortfall airs tonight on STV and the STV Player at 10.40pm