New data has revealed the scale of the task of filling teaching jobs in the Highlands with some posts advertised as many as eight times. Some vacancies have spanned more than a year as education bosses struggle to find suitable candidates. Since the beginning of the 2021/22 academic year, Highland Council has posted an incredible 1,454
Job adverts for teachers in its 199 schools. The Press and Journal can now reveal that 391 of them, more than a quarter of the total, have had to be readvertised. Which Highland teaching jobs are hardest to fill? Data from Highland Council shows that head teacher positions and Gaelic Medium posts are amongst the hardest to fill. A Gaelic primary school position working across schools in Portree was first advertised in March 2022 and was eventually filled in December 2023. Meanwhile, St Clements Primary School in Dingwall and St Joseph’s RC Primary School in Inverness were both without head teachers for more than a year. And the recruitment process for Dingwall Primary School also lasted just one day short of a year. The search for a new head teacher for Kingussie Primary took five adverts and nine months, Glen Urquhart High School took eight months and four adverts and the Wick High School process took nearly five months and four adverts. Which Highland schools are posting the most job adverts? How is Highland Council addressing hard-to-fill vacancies? The Press and Journal asked Highland Council whether it considered any alternative methods for advertising hard-to-fill or very rural locations. The local authority was also asked what special provisions are put in place at schools left without head teachers for prolonged periods. Highland Council did not respond to repeated requests to comment. In Full: All the Highland teaching jobs that have been readvertised