MINISTERS have come under fire over a “loophole” in a national agreement to protect teacher numbers.
Teaching unions called on the Scottish Government to toughen up guidance after a council was able to cut teacher number despite the national target to protect pupil teacher ratios.
Analysis: Watering down of guidance paves way for teacher cuts
Under the agreement all councils are expected to work towards maintaining national pupil teacher ratios at 13.7.
However, because Angus Council already exceeds the target officials have decided to cut teacher numbers by up to 30 full time equivalent posts.
Campaigners argue the move could act as a green light to the 21 councils who currently have better pupil teacher ratios than the national target.
Sandy Longmuir, chairman of the Scottish Rural Schools Network, said the move would damage the national target and could lead to more councils cutting teachers.
He said: “If we some councils cutting teacher numbers, but still getting extra money, then it makes the national agreement unworkable and nothing more than a charade.”
Larry Flanagan, general secretary of the Educational Institute of Scotland, teaching union called on the guidance to be toughened up.
He said: “If the wording of the current national agreement on maintaining teacher numbers offers the potential for local authorities to cut teaching posts, the Scottish Government needs to address such an anomaly.
“Simply applying national pupil-teacher ratios is too blunt an instrument, and does not take account of local issues.”
Liz Smith, education spokeswoman for the Scottish Conservative Party, said the move raised questions about the effectiveness of pupil teacher ratios as a measure to determine effective workforce planning.
She added: “The Scottish Government has been very strong in its advice to local authorities that the pupil teacher ratio is important, yet here we are with a local authority prepared to challenge that line in order to make savings.”
Iain Gray, education spokesman for the Scottish Labour Party, accused Education Secretary John Swinney of “vacuous and dishonest” claims to be protecting teacher numbers.
He added: “First he diluted his promise to protect teacher numbers and then diluted it further to only protecting a national average of pupil teacher ratios.
“Now Angus are taking advantage of this loophole to cut teacher numbers.”
A Scottish Government spokesman said funding levels of £51 million next year to maintain teacher numbers meant no council would need to cut school staff.
He added: “The agreement with Cosla on the national teacher ratio was first reached two years ago and since then overall teacher numbers have risen every year and are now almost 800 higher than they were in 2015.”
The budget report from Angus Council said: “It is recognised that the intention to maintain teacher numbers is valued. However, it is also necessary to recognise that national teacher workforce planning is not an exact science.
“It is recognised that there is scope to reduce teacher numbers in Angus whilst contributing to the maintenance of the national teacher pupil ratio.”
Teacher reductions are part of wider cuts to education which will see savings of more than £1.6m over the next three years.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel