A high school has advertised six times for an English teacher, prompting fresh claims the government is presiding over a "crisis" in education.

Aberdeenshire Council has advertised the post at Peterhead Academy on half a dozen occasions since July 2017 - but has so far received just two applications, data released following a Freedom of Information (FoI) request revealed.

As of November 10, the authority had 47 vacant teaching posts that had been advertised between two and six times.

Meanwhile Stirling Council had a vacancy for a home economics teacher at Bannockburn High School since January 2016 that had been advertised three times - with no responses received to the first two adverts and only one application from the third.

Figures showed that in November 169 teaching jobs in Scotland had been advertised on more than one occasion.

In September the head teacher at Edinburgh's Trinity Academy asked parents if they could help out after a "national shortage" in mathematics teachers meant it could not fill two posts.

Liberal Democrat education spokesman Tavish Scott said: "It is very worrying for schools that teaching posts are being advertised four, five and even six times.

"Support for learning teachers are routinely covering whole classes instead of giving the specialist, personalised support that their pupils need.

"Head teachers are phoning around supply lists but are finding there simply isn't anyone available."

A Scottish Government spokesman said: "Although teacher recruitment is a matter for local authorities, we recognise some areas have faced challenges filling vacancies.

"This is why we have invested £88 million in 2017, resulting in 543 more teachers than last year - the second year in a row that there's been an increase in teacher numbers.

"In Aberdeenshire, the number of teachers increased this year to 2,675 - the highest in over five years.

"We have taken decisive action to help recruit and retain teachers through our Teaching Makes People campaign, focusing specifically on attracting new teachers and career changers into STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) and other subjects."