Headteachers have also been forced to send pupils home, or to other schools, and to hold classes after hours because they don’t have enough staff.
Last week Peter Peacock, the education minister, played down the scale of the staffing problem, claiming schools are on course to meet the Scottish executive’s target of 53,000 teachers by 2007.
However the Headteachers’ Association of Scotland has warned that 800 teaching posts are lying vacant and, with almost half of the teaching profession nearing retirement age, the system is facing “breakdown”.
Pupils sitting Higher maths at Dumfries High school received no lessons for eight weeks. Instead they were set work from textbooks and supervised by art, French and business studies teachers.
At Denny High school, in Stirlingshire, hundreds of children in S1 and S2 were sent home because there was nobody to teach them. The school is advertising for teachers in Northern Ireland because it cannot find staff in Scotland.
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Govan High school, in Glasgow, has been forced to hold lessons after school hours because it does not have enough staff to teach during the day. It has also had to cancel religious education in S1 and S2 because it cannot find a properly qualified teacher. Pupils have been sent to another school to keep them up to date with lessons.
The Scottish Qualifications Authority is under pressure from parents to make a special case for pupils sitting exams this year who are not being taught the syllabus.
“There is a shortage now and pupils are being disadvantaged. It is the here and now that is important and this situation is of great concern to all parents,” said Alan Smith, the president of the Scottish School Board Association.
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton, the Tory education spokesman, said: “Peter Peacock needs to stop believing his own PR, lift his head out of the sand and see what’s happening to education on his watch.”
The Scottish executive insisted there was no national teacher shortage. “Our latest figures show that vacancies are very low and we are committed to expanding the workforce to 53,000 by 2007 to raise standards in education further,” said a spokeswoman.