ROSYTH councillor Mike Shirkie says he does not want the problem of unfilled teaching posts in West Fife to continue long-term.

This after figures revealed there are currently 88 teaching posts vacant in Fife’s primary and secondary schools – 22 of which are in the south-west area.

The issue was raised with the West Fife area committee as Shirkie, Labour councillor for Rosyth, wanted to know if the situation had improved at all.

Councillor Shirkie told the Press, “There’s been a general problem with teacher recruitment not just in Fife but across Scotland.

"We had particular problems in Rosyth a year ago where all the headteachers were changed in a very short space of time.

"There was difficulty in filling spaces when teachers were off ill or getting teachers from the pool to fill in.

“We wanted to know how the situation had improved and what was being done to compensate. There has been improvement in teacher numbers in the south-west area in terms of primary schools.

"Posts have improved there where there were shortages before. We are trying to seek reassurance that we are doing all we can in Fife to recruit teachers.” The 22 unfilled positions in the south-west area were of particular concern to Cllr Shirkie as he believes this is still too many. Additionally, 17 of these jobs are either temporary or reduced hours.

Shirkie said, “These are less worrying figures than they were before. Clearly, there has been some degree of success in the way that the education authority have streamlined the recruitment system. They are going further afield to recruit teachers.

“The situation is difficult for all local authorities and there is even competition between them. There has been an increased span in terms of recruitment. Teachers in England are looking to come and some from as far afield as Northern Ireland.

“In the south-west area it is not an immediately solvable problem but I am pleased that the education officers are taking it seriously.

“It is not a paralysing problem but if we don’t get it fixed then we don’t have the pool of reserve teachers to draw on and we could be struggling in the future. We are coping at the moment but it does put a strain on the system.

“Having visited the local primaries I am satisfied that the teachers and headteachers are happy and have got solutions if they do have vacancies. I don’t want this to continue long-term.

"Recruitment is the priority but getting these posts filled and having a reserve pool is equally important. The situation needs monitoring to make sure that solutions put in place are working.

“Eventually we want the problem to go away.”