PUPILS returning to school across the county this week will not face serious teacher shortages, according to Kent County Council.

The authority insists that while some schools are still struggling to fill vacancies, there is no cause for concern.

Teacher shortages forced a handful of Kent secondary schools to bring in four-day weeks for a short period last term. At the same time, teacher unions balloted on industrial action.

However, Kent County Council said a concerted drive over the summer to boost recruitment meant the number of unfilled vacancies stood at about 100. In June, an estimated 622 vacancies had not been filled.

It also pointed out that such a figure was low when considered against the 13,000-strong complement of teachers in the county’s 600-plus schools.

Conservative cabinet member for schools organisation Cllr Leyland Ridings said about 70 new teachers had been recruited from abroad to work in Kent schools.

“We did have a serious situation in June but by that time we had started our recruitment campaign. We have appointed about 70 teachers from countries such as Australia, New Zealand and America and they have been on familiarisation courses throughout the summer.”

He stressed that all the recruits were adequately qualified and that a number of candidates had been turned down for vacant positions because of their lack of experience.

“We had a lot more who applied to us for jobs than we accepted. We are not complacent and we are keeping an eye on the situation.”

The news that the problem of teacher shortages in Kent appears to have receded coincides with a claim by the chief inspector of schools Mike Tomlinson that the recruitment crisis was the worst he had known in 30 years.

Meanwhile, a survey suggested headteachers regarded as many as one fifth of teachers taking up posts at the start of the school year were “not up to the job.”

KCC Labour education spokesman Cllr Matt Wheatcroft said he was impressed by Kent’s efforts but warned: “The problem in Kent will be that there are pockets where schools with problems will find it much harder to recruit staff.”