Students who took part in the teacher induction programme, which guarantees a one year training placement, are discovering there is little chance of a job at the end of their probation.

Now those trained in Falkirk and unable to get a post are heading out of the area to look for jobs, with a number heading overseas to pursue their career.

Gary Shepherd (25) of Larbert spent his probation year at Denny High and did supply work at the same school.

But after two years without finding a job locally, the geography teacher has decided to start a new life in the Bahamas so that he can
work in his chosen subject.

He said: "I had a really good time here and enjoyed my experience and could have stayed on with the possibility of eventually getting a job, but I didn't want to continue doing general supply work and wanted to
specialise in the subject that I am trained in.

"Working abroad was something I thought about doing in the future, but the situation here has made my decision to go a lot easier."

Julia Swan, head of education at Falkirk Council, said: "In the last year we have had 113 people that were on probation in the last year and applied for positions. From that figure we have managed to employ 15 primary teachers and 18 secondary.

"Our numbers of positions increased from 1555 in 2007 to 1607 in 2008, but we can only take people on for where we have jobs.

She added: "We get some great young probationers here and we put every effort into retaining them. If we can't offer them a permanent position, we offer them supply and maternity cover – as there is actually a high level of maternity leave in the area. It's not a full-time position, but it does get people a start and some experience. We also try to help out our probationers by not advertising posts in the spring and into summer to give them the best chance of getting the job.

"But since our average teaching age here is 40, against a national average of 53, there are not a lot of people who will want to move on from the area or retire – so at the moment I have to say I think the future is very uncertain for new teachers."

A spokesperson for the EIS – Scotland's largest teaching union – said: "In schools across the country probation teachers are finding it more difficult to find full time jobs – although in some areas this is not always the case. In some cases it means we are losing teachers we have trained to other careers and to countries abroad.

"Although it is not an exact science, we would like to see more planning to ensure that there are more full-time options for newly-qualified teachers."