The leaders of Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, the Highlands, Moray, Orkney Islands, Shetland Islands and Western Isles suggested a range of recruitment proposals at a summit in Aberdeen.
These include higher salaries for teachers willing to move north and more teacher training courses at Aberdeen University and the University of the Highlands and Islands.
Jenny Laing, leader of Aberdeen, said she had spoken to Angela Constance, the education secretary, at the summit: “We are concerned about continuing to raise attainment while we face the current challenges in recruiting teachers and want the minister to consider possible solutions at national and local level to support us at a time of unprecedented low numbers of applicants and increased pupil numbers.”
The priority was setting up a nationally supported taskforce to agree an action plan for the region. A weighting system for public sector workers, like that in London, was also worth exploring, she said.
“Consideration must also be given to addressing the annual budget settlement for authorities in the North to reflect these challenges,” she added.
The seven councils have already tried to attract more teachers with so-called golden hello payments and free accommodation. However, there are now vacancies for 19 secondary, 36 primary and four additional support needs teachers in Aberdeen alone, according to latest figures.
As for headteachers, there are nine primary vacancies, about one fifth of total primary heads, and two secondary vacancies in the city.
Ms Constance said the Scottish government had already launched a recruitment campaign: “A national marketing campaign to attract more people into teaching will be targeted in areas which need extra help to recruit teachers, particularly in hard-to-fill subjects such as science, technology, engineering and maths.
“It’s clear from the summit that there is some interesting work across our rural and north east communities ... and I will continue to support these efforts closely.”
The government would continue to work with local authorities across Scotland to find realistic long-term solutions, she added.