ONE FIFTH of all teaching jobs advertised last year in the Kingdom attracted zero applicants. 

Fife Council also said a sizeable number of people trying for other vacant posts couldn’t be bothered to complete the application or turn up for interview.

Jobs that are “regularly unfilled” include teacher, home carer, school crossing patrol officer, care assistant, catering and cleaning posts and childcare practitioner. 

Sharon McKenzie, head of human resources, said: “The information analysed shows that there can be a low number or zero suitable applicants for some posts. 

“For instance, around 20 per cent of teaching adverts attracted zero applications in 2017-18. 

“Particular difficulties surrounded attracting applicants for home economics, maths, music, drama and English posts. 

“Adverts that attract a low number of applicants are often part-time, entry level posts requiring no formal qualifications or previous work experience.”

She said the location of the job could also be a factor and added: “In some cases, candidates fail to arrive for interview or do not accept the offer of work.” 

And Ms McKenzie said there was a “high drop-off rate when completing application forms, particularly at the point applicants begin the ‘How We Work Matters’ competency questions”. 

Her report to the scrutiny committee on Tuesday addressed workforce challenges facing the council in three key areas: recruitment, Brexit and digital learning. 

It also covered a range of actions for hard-to-fill posts, such as closer links with local colleges, open days, targeted advertising on social media, sending ads for entry level posts to every high school, co-ordinating and simplifying the recruitment and interview processes and reducing the time taken to hire.  

And it said that greater use of digital learning would be an “efficient and cost-effective way of developing our employees”.

Amid the struggle to fill teaching vacancies at primary and secondary schools, figures obtained by the Scottish Conservatives highlighted that 151 posts were re-advertised in Fife in the last academic year. 

Shelagh McLean, head of service, said: “We’re actively recruiting teachers, taking every opportunity to advertise positions and attract more teachers to Fife. 

“We employ some 4,200 teachers in Fife schools, so our current vacancy level is a very low percentage of our overall staffing complement.

“The number of vacancies is slightly higher than we would normally expect, reflecting the national position, but we have made good progress in filling primary vacancies.”