Edinburgh teachers have warned they will fight plans by the city council to cut promoted posts in secondary schools in a bid to save pound;2.4 million over the next two years.

EIS Edinburgh local association secretary Alison Thornton said the proposed reductions in the number of depute heads and principal teachers would cause “significant damage to the quality of education”.

The loss of promoted staff would impact on the on- going implementation of Curriculum for Excellence, staff development, support for pupils and school discipline, she said.

A spokesman for Edinburgh City Council said it wanted to replace PTs with curriculum leaders covering a range of subjects - a move that would reduce the cohort of 460 PTs to 321. Voluntary early release packages were being offered, he said.

City education leader Marilyne MacLaren said: “There are hard choices to be made and change is not easy, but I am assured from other councils that there will be no adverse impact on learning.

“The number of management posts is the same whether a school has 250 or 1,400 pupils.”

The council is seeking a reduction of 15 depute head posts.

elizabeth.buie@tes.co.uk

Highlands jobs safeguarded

Threatened classroom assistant posts across the Highlands will be safeguarded until 2012, Highland Council said last week.

The local authority’s working group, set up to review the role of classroom assistants, of which there are currently 344 in the Highland area, said savings elsewhere would be identified to maintain the jobs for at least another school year.

But it also recommended that in future new job descriptions be drawn up to establish clearer lines between the roles of classroom assistants and learning support.