Cuts in classroom assistants 'putting education at risk'

Published on Tuesday 31 March 2009 23:10

THE NUMBER of classroom assistants is being cut across Scotland to save cash-strapped councils money, a move that teachers say could put the quality of children's education at risk.

Inverclyde has become the latest council to announce job cuts in schools, with four support managers and 12 classroom assistants going to save 592,000 over two years.

Nationally, the number of support staff has dropped by 230 in just a year.

In 2007 there were 2,391 staff in the category, which includes classroom assistants and administration workers. Last year that fell to 2,161, according to government statistics out last week.

Teachers are angry, because, under the McCrone deal, the duties of a classroom assistant are not part of a teacher's contract.

Out of Scotland's 32 councils, 19 recorded a drop in support staff, according to the government statistics. The number of support staff in South Lanarkshire fell from 148 in 2007 to 70 last year. East Dunbartonshire also experienced a significant drop from 236 to 136.

Alan McKenzie, the acting deputy general secretary of the Scottish Secondary Teachers' Association said: "Who is going to do this work? At the end of the day, young people will suffer."

A spokesman for Scotland's biggest teaching union, the EIS, warned that further cuts could damage education.

He said: "It is not surprising that local authorities are now looking to make further cost-cutting measures by reducing the number of support staff employed in schools. Cutbacks in both teaching and support staff could have a hugely damaging impact on the education of children across the country."

A spokesman for Inverclyde Council said: "As part of the council's two-year budget set in February, it was agreed that the number of support managers in schools be reduced from seven to four, while classroom support assistants have been reduced from 288 to 268 – a reduction of 12 full time equivalent posts.

"This equates to a 225,000 saving in 2009-10 and 367,000 in 2010-11."

He went on: "The staff involved have either taken voluntary redundancy or will be redeployed elsewhere within the council. There will be no compulsory redundancies and full consultation has taken place with the trade unions."

Aberdeen City Council saw a fall of six support staff from 99 to 90. A spokesman said resources were being targeted towards deprived areas.

He said: "Before our agreed savings, we were spending 427.54 per pupil per annum. With the savings implemented, we will be spending 362.34 per pupil per annum – higher than the highest-spending comparator authority."

The cuts in support staff emerged after government statistics revealed that teacher numbers over the same period fell by almost 1,000.

The data showed there were 53,584 teachers across all schools, down from 54,559 the previous year. The drop contradicts the Scottish Government's vow to maintain teacher numbers to reduce class sizes.

The figures, published earlier this week, revealed that Inverclyde has also cut 47 teaching posts between 2007 and 2008.

And it is not the only council cutting teachers' jobs. Four local authorities – Glasgow, Renfrewshire, Aberdeen and North Lanarkshire – were responsible for more than half the reduction in teacher numbers.

Each blamed falling school rolls and said most had been achieved through not replacing retired teachers.