The Cabinet Secretary for Education’s recent comment that newly qualified teachers who can’t get permanent teaching jobs, should follow her example and move away from home to try and get work, had a very unfortunate ring.

It was strongly reminiscent of the, at best, tone-deafness of a Tory Minister for Employment who, back in early days of the Thatcher government, blamed mass unemployment on the workers whose livelihoods, communities and life chances were being wrecked by the actions of his own government.

Norman Tebbit said that unemployed workers should get on their bikes, like his father had during the hard times of the 1930’s, and look for work.

It is little wonder that good citizens today are losing faith in politics and politicians when scapegoating on the one hand and apparent self-congratulation on the other, are the response to the very serious issues that arise from precarious work and the widespread operation of zero hours contracts in the teaching profession.

Teachers in Scotland did not cause the current recruitment crisis. National and local politicians are accountable for that.

Ironically, many of the teachers currently unable to gain a permanent contract are those who responded to the Scottish Government’s own teacher recruitment campaign.

They answered the calls to join the profession in good faith, did the hard work, met the rigorous professional standards and gained the qualifications, only to hit a brick wall – a significant shortfall when it comes to job opportunities.

Teachers in Scotland did not cause the current recruitment crisis. National and local politicians are accountable for that.

Rather than valuing teachers and education properly, elected politicians at national and local levels remain permanently locked in a battle over funding and who’s in control of what. Meanwhile, serious problems in our education system that they have created or failed to properly address – despite their big promises – persist.

Workforce planning is not rocket science, so should not be beyond the nouse of the Scottish Government and COSLA to handle effectively in partnership with trade unions.

As a country, Scotland could afford to employ every single qualified teacher in the land and recruit more teachers to fill the gaps that would still be there, if the political will were there to do it. That’s the real issue here – the lack of a coherent vision for education in Scotland.

If the political will had been there to do it, thousands more teachers would have been employed in the last five years – 3500 were promised before the last election by the SNP. Unfortunately there are now almost a thousand teachers fewer than when that promise was made.

That’s more than 4000 short of the 2021 target and the real reason why thousands of teachers are unemployed or under-employed today.

But it’s not too late for politicians to do better for Scotland. Class sizes are amongst the highest in the OECD, 43% of our young people now have an additional support need, and teachers in Scotland are working the equivalent of a day and a half a week, extra and unpaid, as they struggle to cope with all this. The education service is crying out for more teachers.

Employing more teachers, even as the pupil roll is projected to fall, is the answer. More teachers would deliver the smaller classes that were promised by the SNP in 2007; would deliver better relationships and behaviour in our classrooms and more support for children with additional needs; and would give teachers more time to plan and prepare learning, teaching and assessment for all children and young people, leading to better learning outcomes and a real chance to close the equity gap. It’s a no-brainer.

Some teachers would be interested in gaining another qualification to enable them to teach in another school sector. Dual registration with the GTCS is possible. What’s the Scottish Government doing to support the teachers who may wish to follow this path?

Some teachers would be interested in moving to other parts of Scotland but would incur moving costs and would need somewhere affordable to live. What’s the Scottish Government doing about that?

Rather than blaming the thousands of teachers on zero hours contracts for not uprooting themselves and moving away from their home and family to chase a very small number of vacancies, a few political home truths should be in order.

• Andrea Bradley, EIS General Secretary