1 in 8 training positions for teachers to go

ONE in eight teacher training places in Scotland is to be scrapped, it was reported today.

Education secretary Fiona Hyslop has told the country's universities to cut the number of postgraduate training places by 18 per cent, which means 500 fewer teachers will graduate next year.

Edinburgh, Strathclyde, Glasgow, Dundee and Stirling universities are likely to see a cut in student places this autumn.

The Government said the move was designed to cut the rising number of teachers unable to find permanent positions. The number of teachers in Scotland in 2007 dropped by 975 to 53,584.

The quarter of Scotland's teachers trained via undergraduate courses will be unaffected.

General secretary of teaching union EIS, Ronnie Smith, said: "You can understand trying to get a better balance between the number of new teachers and number of vacancies, but it is not addressing the question: why are authorities not employing teachers?"