£210k plan brought in for training of nursery teachers

Published on Wednesday 20 May 2009 22:04

A £210,000 pilot scheme to train teachers to be early years specialists at Aberdeen and Stirling Universities has been announced by the Scottish Government.

Critics warned, however, that the 60 university places created to help fulfil election promise of access to a nursery teacher for every child may not succeed as cash-strapped councils cannot be forced to employ the graduates under the concordat.

Many councils, such as Glasgow and Stirling, have already cut nursery teachers and replaced them with nursery nurses who earn less pay.

A spokesman for Scotland's biggest teaching union, the EIS, described it as a positive step as it recognised the value of qualified teachers in a nursery setting.

He added, however: "The concern remains that there will continue to be a disparity between the Scottish Government's aspirations and the reality that is delivered by local authorities.

"Under the terms of the Scottish Government-COSLA Concordat, many local authorities have already displayed a willingness to disregard national priorities, such as those on reducing class sizes and maintaining teacher numbers.

Labour's Rhona Brankin described it as too little, too late.

She said: "These teachers will not be trained until 2010 and there is no guarantee that they won't join the hundreds of graduates who are already unemployed."

Adam Ingram, early years minister, said: "It's vital that we ensure pre-school children are stimulated and encouraged by learning that is relevant to them and teachers are at the heart of that drive.

"In our Concordat with COSLA, we have made a joint commitment to ensure every pre-school child has access to a teacher and by boosting the number of teachers with early years expertise we will promote excellence in this area and help children get off on the right track from the very beginning."