Any attempt to increase teacher numbers in Scotland must prioritise the retention of staff, a teaching union’s general secretary said this afternoon.

Seamus Searson, of the Scottish Secondary Teachers’ Association (SSTA), warned today of the dangers of over-reliance on recruitment drives for new teachers.

To focus on recruitment and ignore the importance of teacher retention “made no sense”, he said.

He listed ways to “pull out all the stops” to persuade experienced teachers to stay in the profession, including “paying teachers properly”, better career structures, showing trust in teachers’ professional judgement, reducing workload and giving teachers better support for meeting the challenges that pupils bring into schools.

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