Schools face next year with fewer teachers and bigger classes

Published on Thursday 29 May 2008 22:04

SCHOOLS across Scotland face starting next year with fewer teachers and books and larger classes because of funding cuts, The Scotsman can reveal.

Teachers claim that for the first time in over a decade, classes in Glasgow will increase in size because of a 2 per cent cut in the city's education budget.

That will fly in the face of the SNP government target to reduce class sizes in the first three years of primary school to a maximum of 18 pupils.

Teachers from schools across the city met earlier this week to compare the effect of cuts in their own schools and found it added up to a grim picture.

Exams in some subjects will have to dropped, teacher numbers are being cut and budgets for jotters slashed.

It marks the failure of a flagship SNP policy as the effects of the party's key election pledge, to freeze council tax, begin to bite.

Willie Hart, Glasgow secretary for the EIS teachers' union, warned the cuts could harm children's education. He said: "We are not saying this is the fault of the city chambers, Holyrood or Westminster.

"We are just asking the politicians to address the issues before it gets worse."

And the union described Glasgow as just one of many local authority areas where children's education was at risk.

An EIS spokesman said: "We are receiving reports of other authorities in similar positions."

In the union's survey of budgets, 18 councils expected a negative financial impact on education. Eight predicted job cuts and three expected compulsory redundancies.

Areas reporting negative impact are: Aberdeen, Angus, Argyll and Bute, Clackmannanshire, East Ayrshire, East Dunbartonshire, East Renfrewshire, Fife, Glasgow, Highland, North Ayrshire, North Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire, Scottish Borders, South Ayrshire, South Lanarkshire, West Dunbartonshire and West Lothian.

Others, including Edinburgh, which had to ditch plans to close 22 schools last year, have not yet responded to the survey.

Cuts vary from 1 per cent in Argyll and Bute to 3 per cent in North Ayrshire.

Gordon Matheson, Glasgow City Council's executive member for education, said the city's education budget had risen by almost 25 per cent over the last four years. He said: "We spend more per pupil than the Scottish average, and more than any other city in the country. Education is Glasgow's first priority.

"However, we must be prepared to change how we do things so that we become more efficient and can invest where it is most needed.

"I understand that there are those who will not support all of our priorities but as politicians we will make the decisions that are in Glasgow's long-term interests."

The Association of Directors of Education in Scotland admitted most councils were having to make cuts of between 1 and 2 per cent in education budgets.

John Stodter, its general secretary, said: "That can be a challenge for schools because budgets are already tight.

"But the actual cost of areas such as transport, fuel, and contracts for school meals have all significantly increased."

A Scottish Government spokeswoman insisted council funding would rise more than 13 per cent over three years.

She said: "This record funding and the settlement itself, provides sufficient resources for local authorities to maintain teacher numbers throughout the spending review period.

"By doing this – in the face of falling school rolls – they can reduce class sizes."