A POLL has sparked calls today to create more teaching jobs in classrooms across Scotland.

The demand came after it was revealed that most newly qualified teachers last year failed to find a permanent post.

Fewer than half the numbers of new teachers had landed a job when a survey was conducted by the General Teaching Council last October.

The poll quizzed 1575 teachers and found that almost 24% of them had taken up full-time temporary jobs while just 8% had been placed in permanent full-time posts.

That compared with 46.4% who had found full- time permanent jobs the previous year and 3% who went into part-time work.

The statistics also showed that 87.8% of teachers were still working in Scotland at the end of their probation during the 2006-2007 academic year compared with 94.7% during 2004-2005.

Matthew MacIver, chief executive of GTC Scotland, said: "There are still issues that need to be addressed regarding the allocation of probationers to available posts."

But he added: "We must, however, be clear that the induction scheme is one of the great suc- cess stories of Scottish education.

"It is now regarded favourably by other countries and is developing some of the most talented teachers we have ever had in Scotland."

But Labour's education spokeswoman Rhona Brankin claimed the SNP-led Scottish Government appeared to be prepared to allow new teachers to switch to other professions.

She said more jobs had to be offered to keep pace with a rise in teacher recruitment and the possibility of smaller class sizes.

But the Scottish Government said there were currently 700 teacher vacancies throughout the country with a spokeswoman insisting: "This is an inherited position and within weeks of coming to power this government tried to alleviate it.

"We have invested £9million in the summer to provide full-time jobs for an additional 300 new teachers.

"Not every teacher will be in permanent employment in the first term after their probation.

"However, other jobs will become available."