A £12 million fund to help people losing their jobs in the oil and gas industry is to also help them retrain as teachers, it has been announced.
The Scottish Government’s Transition Training Fund, which was announced earlier this month, aims to help oil and gas workers being made redundant move into other energy or manufacturing industries.
However, Education Secretary Angela Constance today told Aberdeen Learning Festival at the Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre (AECC) the £12m fund will also be available to support those who want to become teachers.
The latest figures from Aberdeen City Council reveal there are 65 unfilled teaching positions across the city.
And as previously revealed in the Evening Express, a shortage of teachers means no children from first year to third year at Kincorth Academy are receiving modern language lessons – such as French or Spanish.
The school also has no teacher for home economics.
Ms Constance said: “We have a highly skilled oil and gas workforce and it is important that we harness their abilities to benefit the next generation, the future of the industry and the North-east.
“Developing options within the £12m Transition Training Fund will help ensure we don’t lose valuable oil and gas sector skills, which can be put to excellent use and will lead to more high-quality, passionate teachers in the area.
“This is the latest in a range of actions we are taking to make sure we have the right teachers in the right places to benefit our young people.
“We have launched our #inspiringteachers campaign to encourage more people to enter the profession.
“We are also supporting innovative ways to encourage more graduates to come into teaching in areas which have difficulty recruiting teachers.
“This includes the University of Aberdeen’s distance learning initial teacher education programme, which allows council employees to retrain as teachers while staying in work.”
