A NEW recruitment campaign aims to attract some of the brightest young science and mathematics undergraduates into the teaching profession.

The Scottish Government is launching an advertising campaign to target students completing university science, technology, engineering and maths courses (STEM).

The move, which will also seek to attract talent from within industry, aims to tackle the current crisis in teacher shortages with 730 unfilled vacancies across 27 of Scotland’s 32 council areas last summer.

There have been particular concerns over shortages of specialist teachers in STEM subjects with Scottish Government targets for training places not being filled.

Last week, the Royal Society of Edinburgh’s Learned Societies’ Group on STEM suggested bursaries of up to £30,000 could be offered to attract graduates into teaching.

However, the Scottish Government has invested in an advertising campaign which it hopes will lure suitable candidates by highlighting the rewards of passing on their expertise to a new generation of pupils.

The “Teaching Makes People” campaign will include billboard advertisements at major railway stations throughout Scotland as well as targeted campaigns at university recruitment fairs.

John Swinney, the Deputy First Minister and Education Secretary, said: “The Teaching Makes People campaign targets university undergraduates studying science, technology, engineering and maths subjects as well as people currently working in STEM industries.

“The campaign is based on research showing people attracted by and suited to teaching are generally motivated by helping to develop others and making the most of their own knowledge.

“It builds on the success of our campaign last year which saw a 19 per cent increase in applications for education postgraduate diplomas at Scottish universities compared to the previous year.”

Mr Swinney, who will launch the campaign at a careers fair at Glasgow University, said teaching was often overlooked as a career choice by the 20,000 or so STEM undergraduates who qualify from Scottish universities each year.‎ He added: “This campaign seeks to change this by targeting undergraduates and having a strong presence at careers events and on campuses across the country.

“This activity will be backed up by social media, online and radio advertising, and billboard adverts in specific locations.”

Ken Muir, chief executive of the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) said there was no “silver bullet” to deal with shortfalls, but attracting people to change career and enticing teachers back from lucrative overseas posts was key.

Mr Muir said: “This campaign is a good stepping stone towards trying to resolve the problem, but I don’t think any one thing will resolve teacher shortages.

“All the organisations need to try and come together to make sure that teaching in Scotland is seen as a worthwhile and desirable career.

“We need high-quality teachers in front of children in Scotland if we are going to tackle some of the Government policy areas.”

The GTCS has already unveiled a global campaign to hire hundreds of extra teachers to address the the classroom shortages.

Trainee teachers in Australia, Canada, Ireland and Northern Ireland - countries where they are in surplus - will be invited to apply for positions in Scotland while homegrown talent that has emigrated to lucrative tax-free jobs in Gulf States such as Dubai and Saudi Arabia will be enticed home when their contracts expire.

And in a move that underlines the prevailing recruitment crisis, retired teachers will be identified from (GTCS) registers and urged to return to the classroom on a part-time basis.