£1m schools funding for new textbooks

Schools will be given extra money to buy textbooks to support new qualifications, the Scottish Government announced.

The textbooks will support new qualifications. Picture: PA

The £1 million fund will be available to councils to help secondary schools prepare for the Curriculum for Excellence.

A further £400,000 will be spent to improve online resources, bringing them up to date and expanding what is on offer to pupils.

The announcements for 2013-14 build on £3.5 million provided in 2012-14.

Education Secretary Michael Russell said he has listened to teachers and unions about classroom resources.

“I want teachers to be free to focus on teaching and, as a Government, we will continue to look for every opportunity to continue to support the work of schools and parents to improve education in Scotland,” he said.

“The important changes to learning and teaching being introduced through Curriculum for Excellence remain at the heart of our efforts to improve attainment, address the deprivation gap and help Scotland’s young people prepare themselves to succeed in the global jobs market.”

Larry Flanagan, general secretary of teachers’ union the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS), welcomed the investment.

“The introduction of the new qualifications inevitably made many existing school resources out of date, and teachers cannot rely on online materials alone to support the teaching of the new courses,” he said.

“Online resources are, of course, helpful but much of the learning and teaching in our schools is still based around printed materials and textbooks. The additional investment announced today will be valuable in allowing schools to update their resource materials, and it is encouraging that the Scottish Government has listened to the EIS and to teachers in our schools in providing this additional funding.”