Highland welcomes ‘plan of action’ proposal from Teachers Summit

Councillor Drew Millar, Chair of The Highland Council’s Education, Children and Adult Services Committee, and senior Council officers including Director of Care and Learning, Bill Alexander met with the Scottish Government and other northern education authorities, at today’s teachers’ summit held in Aberdeen.

The summit considered the challenges in teacher recruitment across the north, and considered a range of ideas and potential actions.

Highland Council representatives welcomed the proposal of the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning, Angela Constance that this should not be a one off event, and that the Local Authorities and Scottish Government should continue to collaborate on a plan of action to take these ideas forward.

Councillor Millar said: "We share the challenge of teacher recruitment across the north, and it makes good sense that we share the solutions. I welcome the involvement of the Cabinet Secretary, and the proposal to develop these potential ways forward into a plan of action."

The summit was hosted by Aberdeen City Council, with the full support of Highland, Aberdeenshire, Moray, Western Isles, Orkney Islands and Shetland Islands Councils.

The aim of the summit was to understand the root causes underlying the current challenges and identify solutions at a national and local level to support the region at a time of unprecedented low numbers of applicants and increased pupil numbers.

The Highland Council currently has 23 teacher and 5 head teacher vacancies in Primary Schools and 23 teacher and 2 head teacher vacancies in Secondary Schools within its area.