AN MSP has hit out at North Ayrshire Council after figures revealed that a number of teaching jobs had to be re-advertised.

But NAC chiefs say that the issue is national and not just the local area affected.

Jamie Greene, Conservative MSP for the West Scotland Region blamed ‘the SNP Government’ after it was revealed that over the last three years, there have been 159 places at schools in North Ayrshire re-advertised after the initial search failed to find a suitable candidate.

The figures, obtained through a Freedom of Information request, indicate there were 84 teaching positions last year that North Ayrshire schools were struggling to fill.

Mr Greene said: “Councils are under a tremendous amount of pressure right now to recruit and retain teachers in North Ayrshire. The fact of the matter is that this is a direct result of a decade of chaotic workforce planning from the SNP Government.”

A North Ayrshire Council spokesperson said: “We are happy to confirm that we currently only have six teaching posts advertised on our recruitment portal.

“We do however re-advertise teaching posts if we are unable to fill these from the initial recruitment advert, with the same post sometimes re-advertised on more than one occasion.

“In our secondary schools, the teaching posts re-advertised are typically across the more harder-to-fill subject areas such as STEM and English. This is not unique to North Ayrshire Council

“In our primary schools, many of the posts re-advertised are temporary posts covering for maternity leave or for teachers returning on reduced working hours. As these posts are temporary, we find we have fewer applicants and applicants may withdraw if they secure permanent employment.”