SNP accused of deceiving parents over key pledge on nurseries

A KEY Scottish Government commitment to ensure all pre-school children have access to a nursery teacher has been dramatically watered down, The Scotsman can reveal.

In an exclusive interview, Adam Ingram, the Children's Minister, admitted that access to a nursery teacher could in reality mean that children only see a teacher once a week.

On other days, classes would be led by nursery nurses, who do not hold a teaching degree.

Parents and teachers last night reacted angrily to the revelation and said they felt deceived by the government.

The SNP's election manifesto said the party was concerned at the removal of nursery teachers from nurseries in some council areas. It read: "We will deliver access to a fully qualified nursery teacher for every nursery-age child, starting with children in deprived communities."

But until now, the Scottish Government has never confirmed what "access" meant, despite pressure from opposition parties, teachers and parents.

Asked by The Scotsman whether access meant every child having a nursery teacher every day, Mr Ingram said: "No."

However, he said he expected youngsters to be taught at least "once a week" rather than every day. He argued peripatetic teachers, who move from school to school, were sufficient.

He said: "You don't want to be taking children miles away from their local communities. It is quite clear from the research that has been done, in terms of child development, it is important you have professionals and practitioners who have significant training of cognitive development.

"That is not to say teachers are the only educational professionals who could be involved."

Teachers attacked the removal of class nursery teachers.

A spokesman for Scotland's biggest teaching union, the EIS, said: "It is clear that having fleeting contact with a teacher is not the same as being taught full-time by a teacher. We are now seeing serious reductions in the number of nursery teachers employed across the country."

He accused the government of creating a postcode lottery in nursery provision, with children in some areas being taught five days a week by a teacher, while youngsters in other areas have only very limited access to their nursery teacher.

He added: "The Scottish Government must take firm action now, to protect nursery education and ensure that all young children, no matter where they live in the country, enjoy the same quality of nursery education delivered by registered teachers."

Rhona Brankin, Labour's education spokeswoman, accused the Scottish Government of having let parents down.

"When parents read the manifesto, it didn't mention once a week. Parents read it as meaning permanent access for their child to a teacher," she said. "They have really pulled the wool over people's eyes; they have deceived Scotland's parents."

Tina Woolnough, of pressure group Parents in Partnership, said the government had been naive or deceiving.

Ms Woolnough, also chairwoman of the board of Blackhall Nursery, an Edinburgh charity, added: "Parents believed access to a nursery teacher would mean their child would have a nursery teacher full time.

"If they didn't mean a teacher in the conventional sense, they could have been clearer about it in the manifesto. Who is going to pay for this is the big question. Nurseries cannot afford teachers.

"The SNP were either deceiving or extremely naive to think that this would ever be possible because it had been tried and failed before."

Mr Ingram also attacked Glasgow City Council for reducing pre-school teacher numbers and refusing to meet class-size targets. Councils, such as Glasgow, have been cutting nursery teacher numbers and replacing them with nursery nurses who are paid around 10,000 less a year.

Mr Ingram said Glasgow's Labour administration would be likely to face electoral losses if it continued to reject Scottish Government priorities.