'No guarantee' school can avoid staff shortages says boss

Education bosses say they cannot guarantee Fraserburgh Academy will not be affected by staff shortages again in the future.

Last week, first year pupils and then S2 students were asked to study from home after staff numbers were hit by illness.

Aberdeenshire Council's education chief Laurence Findlay said nobody could guarantee that a severe outbreak of illness would not cause further disruption.

But he insisted the local authority was working to reduce the risk.

The disruption last week was blamed on a combination of seasonal illness among teachers, and delays in new staff starting work while pre-employment checks were completed.

Findlay said sending pupils home was done as a last resort to ensure safe and effective learning for other pupils.

He said: "Nobody can guarantee that a severe outbreak of illness will never create disruption, but what we have to do is to work to reduce the risk."

The education director said recruitment was ongoing, appointments had been made and the school was continuing to explore supply teaching options.

He said he spent two days at Fraserburgh Academy earlier this week and that the staffing situation had stabilised.

The disruption came amid wider concerns about staffing levels, pupil behaviour and the pressures facing teachers and support staff.

More than 50 members of staff had previously written to Findlay raising concerns, while the parent council has called for greater support from both the council and the Scottish government.

Findlay said he had seen committed staff delivering good lessons during his visit, and that the majority of pupils behaved well and wanted to learn.

However, he acknowledged concerns about behaviour towards staff were serious.

A Unison survey in July found three-quarters of school support staff had experienced violence or aggression at least once a week, while a third said they had been personally attacked in the previous year.

Findlay said: "I think that is unacceptable. I think these are serious concerns."

He said the school had established a health and safety and risk committee to give staff a way to raise issues, with the council monitoring the progress of measures to improve behaviour, safety and follow-up.

He said the recent staffing problems should not be conflated with the wider behaviour concerns, and that he was not aware of evidence linking behaviour to difficulties recruiting staff.

The council boss also highlighted a wider shortage of teachers, particularly in secondary schools and in rural and remote parts of Scotland.

He said Aberdeenshire had 17 secondary schools and had expected to receive about 44 provisionally registered teachers through the teacher induction scheme this year, but had received only four or five.

Findlay said the system was "clearly not working" and that discussions were taking place with the Scottish government about improving teacher supply.

He said parents should not simply accept the prospect of further disruption, and urged families, schools and councils to keep working together to find solutions.

The Scottish government has been asked for comment.

In a statement last week, it said children should be in school and learning.

A spokesperson added: "Education is the statutory responsibility of each local authority, which must ensure they have the right provision of teachers for its schools.

"Teacher numbers across Scotland have increased by more than 2,700 over the last decade thanks to Scottish government investment, including an additional £186.5m this year alone."