Only 14 people from EU have applied to be teachers in Scotland this year The number of people from the EU applying to be teachers in Scotland is “falling off a cliff” in the […]

The number of people from the EU applying to be teachers in Scotland is “falling off a cliff” in the run up to Brexit, the head of the profession’s official regulator has warned.

Ken Muir, the chief executive of the General Teaching Council of Scotland (GTCS), said applications from EU countries had “dwindled to next to nothing” in the first half of the year.

“Having maintained numbers pretty high from the EU, [applications] are falling off a cliff, and that’s absolutely down to Brexit” The i politics newsletter cut through the noise Email address is invalid Email address is invalid Thank you for subscribing! Sorry, there was a problem with your subscription. Ken Muir, GTCS

The trend is likely to exacerbate existing problems with teacher recruitment in Scotland’s schools, with many struggling to fill vacancies due to a lack of applicants.

Statistics compiled by the teaching regulator show that only 14 teachers from the EU applied to register in Scotland in the year to 30 June, a dramatic decline on the past three years.

In 2015 the GTCS recorded 128 applicants overall. In 2016, the year of the Brexit vote, the figure rose to 159 and last year it increased again to 186.

While there are still six months for the application rate pick up in 2018, the dearth of registrations so far suggests that the total number will fall far short of previous years.

“Having maintained numbers pretty high from the EU, they are falling off a cliff, and that’s absolutely down to Brexit,” Mr Muir told Holyrood magazine.

He added that Greece, Poland, Spain and the Republic of Ireland were usually “big hitters” in terms of applicants from the EU, but numbers this year had “dwindled to next to nothing”.

Immigration concerns

A breakdown of the 2018 figures showed that six of the 14 applicants were from Spain, three from Poland, two from Greece and one each from Finland, Ireland and Switzerland.

As well as the uncertainty of the UK’s impending departure from the EU, Mr Muir said Britain’s existing immigration policy may also be a factor in forcing down the number of applicants.

“I think that, together with Brexit, means folk are asking ‘Is it really worthwhile to come and teach in Scotland?’,” he said. “It compounds the problem we’ve got bringing teachers into the education system.”

Filling teacher vacancies is already a major issue for some Scottish schools, with figures released in January showing that thousands of jobs have had to be re-advertised over the past three years.

Last month a survey by the nation’s largest teaching union, the EIS, found that a clear majority of Scottish teachers would not recommend the career to others due to their relentlessly rising workloads.

Negotiations over a possible teachers’ pay rise are still ongoing, with both the EIS and the Scottish Secondary Teachers’ Association threatening strikes if they deem any eventual offer unacceptable.

SNP MSP Gordon MacDonald, who sits on Holyrood’s Education Committee, described the figures on EU students as “absolutely devastating” for schools.

“They prove the Tories put their own Brexit obsessions ahead of what’s good for our kids’ education – that is completely intolerable. They’re actively driving talent away,” he added.

Ross Greer, education spokesman for the Scottish Greens, said the figures showed that Brexit was “already damaging our society”, with Scotland “an increasingly unattractive place for those looking to make a new life”.

A UK Government spokeswoman said: “We deeply value the contribution of all EU citizens working in the UK’s education systems, they are vital to the future of our children and valued members of society.

“After we leave the EU, we will have in place an immigration system which works in the best interests of the whole of the UK, including Scotland.

“Freedom of movement will end and we be will creating an immigration system that delivers control over who comes to the UK, but that welcomes the brightest and best who want to work hard and contribute.”