Half Of All Scottish Teachers To Leave In The Next Four Years

Exclusive by ANDREW DENHOLM, Education Correspondent January 03 2009

Almost half of Scotland’s teachers are set to leave the profession in the next four years, leading to an unprecedented recruitment crisis.

Official Scottish Government projections show that 25,000 of the country’s 53,000 primary and secondary teachers will either reach retirement age by 2013, or leave for other reasons.

The sharp increase reflects the general age profile of workers across the public sector, which will also lead to increasing numbers of health service staff - including doctors - and police officers reaching retirement age over the next few years.

The problem has already sparked concern over the impact on pensions with calls for public sector workers to work on past retirement age or contribute more to final salary schemes.

However, the impending increase in retirement age has particular significance in Scottish education because it comes at a time when recruitment is already in turmoil.

Although thousands of teachers are expected to retire, hundreds of newly qualified teachers have been unable to get jobs in recent months.

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Half Of All Teachers To Leave In The Next Four Years (from The Herald ).