'Let schools decide who supervises pupils in playground'

A decision by Fife Council to cut playground staff has been criticised by Labour politicians, who say many of the area's schools are instead taking support teachers out of the classroom in order to supervise youngsters at break times.

Labour Mid Scotland and Fife MSP Claire Baker is now calling for the SNP-run council to "come clean" on the full impact that the cuts to playground supervisors have had on schools across the region.

But Tory education spokeswoman Liz Smith said: "It's up to an individual school how they look after their (pupils in] playgrounds."

She added: "Nobody wants to compromise safety in the playground and so long as the pupils and the parents are aware of what would happen if there was an accident, then I'm relatively comfortable about that, because that is the way schools choose to operate.

"Most of them have pretty strong parent-teacher councils which look at these issues and parents are usually very good at giving their opinion on how they see that kind of thing working."

Labour has pointed to a survey by Ms Baker that also raised concerns from parents that about ten hours of support teaching a week was being lost during class time because playground supervision had now been added to their workload.

Ms Baker said: "The SNP's decision to sack all playground supervisors in Fife is damaging the quality of learning. Fife Council must come clean on the full effects of these cuts.

"Cutting supervision is clearly putting a strain on schools and support teachers are being asked to fill that gap with very serious consequences for the amount of time they have available to do their main job."

The Scottish Government says schools must provide adult supervision during break time in primary and special schools with 50 or more pupils.

There is also a duty on them to make arrangements to ensure that schools take reasonable care for the health and safety of their pupils.

'Let schools decide who supervises pupils in playground' - Tories