It would seem that Glasgow City Council, much like other local authorities, is hell-bent on jeopardising frontline services in education by cutting teacher numbers.
First, we have the ludicrous situation of retired teachers being replaced with a succession of probationers year after year, thus reducing the number of permanent teaching posts to practically zero, not to mention the effect this lack of continuity has on our children’s education. Now we hear that the local authority has written to secondaries to ask them to cut temporary supply staff in Glasgow schools during the exam diet in May.
A spokeswoman for the council has responded by trotting out the old chestnut that “during the current financial climate, Glasgow, like most other local authorities, must be as efficient as possible”.
Can I make a suggestion? Instead of cutting teacher numbers, councils could save money by not paying out huge amounts of compensation in early retirement and redundancy packages to senior staff in the offices.
In 35 years of teaching, I have seen a proliferation in the number of “strategic” posts, with very little positive to show for them.
Jeanette Potter, Corsebar Road, Paisley.