MSPs from the SNP and Conservatives have become embroiled in a war of words over teaching vacancies in North Ayrshire.

MSP Jamie Greene stated that there are currently 730 unfilled teaching vacancies across, particularly in key subjects such as English, Maths and Physics.

Mr Greene claimed that the Scottish Government’s failure to plan the teacher workforce is having serious consequences, with some denied the opportunity to study certain subjects due to the lack of teachers, and has written to Deputy First Minister John Swinney on the matter.

Regional List MSP Mr Greene commented on the 'worsening crisis': “The number of teachers applying for vacancies in Physics and Home Economics and even Maths and English can be very low. This raises concerns for the future of those subjects in this area and the quality of teaching resulting from this. Without teachers available in some areas pupils often have to travel to other schools or having to stay back later to be taught by another teacher.

“I will be writing to the Deputy First Minister John Swinney to press the SNP government for more decisive action.

“The Scottish Government must commit to solving this crisis for the sake of future generations because, if let unchanged, the crisis will only continue to worsen. Your ability to learn shouldn’t be based on where you live or go to school, the SNP must ensure teachers are available for North Ayrshire.”

Local MSP Kenneth Gibson said: “In Scotland the average for teaching vacancies is around 1% so, with 11 vacancies out of a teaching complement of 1,385, North Ayrshire falls below that with a rate of 0.7%.

"We expect that vacancy rate to reduce as the school term proceeds. We face that challenge, and nobody within the SNP Government has ever sought to say otherwise. That is why we are taking a range of actions to deal with and address it. Let me again set out some of those actions:

“We have increased student teacher intakes for six years in a row. Back in 2011, the intake to student teaching was 2,297, and in the most recent year it was more than 4,000. We had 231 more newly qualified probationer teachers starting the induction scheme in August than started in the previous year.

“We have also recently launched the next phase of the teacher recruitment campaign. We are developing a national approach to support recruitment of teachers from outside Scotland, and we are developing a specific campaign for headteacher recruitment. A specification for a new route into teaching is being finalised right now, to help us even more to attract teachers, in particular, to parts of the country and to subjects that are under pressure.

“The biggest threat is, of course, the restrictions that the Tories want to put on the ability of people - teachers, nurses and doctors - to come to this country from other parts of Europe. That, as in so many other areas, is the biggest challenge that we now face.”