Twenty-five former oil workers are set to retrain as teachers thanks to a £12m fund.

They are expected to start their studies at the University of Aberdeen in August.

The Scottish Government’s Transition Training Fund was created to help jobless north east oil workers back into work.

Twenty were expected to retrain as teachers, but extra funding has allowed another five to sign up.

It is hoped the scheme will also help alleviate a chronic shortage of teachers in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire, where there are around 150 vacancies.

Aberdeen City Council previously warned that schools could be forced to close as a result.

Experts believe 120,000 people will have been made redundant in the UK as a result of the downturn by the end of 2016, with 40,000 to go this year alone.