Cuts on the scale reported in Glasgow (TESS, 18 January) would inevitably have a damaging impact on education provision, particularly in early years settings and in additional support for learning. The continuing removal of teachers from nursery establishments and nursery classes in schools means that young children are being denied the access to a teacher that was a key pre-election commitment for the Scottish government.
The EIS will continue to challenge this process and seek to ensure that all young children have meaningful access to qualified, GTCS-registered teachers.
The proposed removal of support for learning teachers is a major blow to policies of inclusion, and would potentially mean that support is removed from some of the children who need it most. This would increase the risk of these young people becoming disengaged from the system, and could make it more difficult to continue educating some pupils within the school environment.
Any reductions in staffing formula or timetabling restrictions will add to the pressures of overworked teachers and senior staff, which impacts negatively on children and young people. Teachers are already overworked and under pressure from cuts in previous years.
In Glasgow, parents have reported concerns with regard to the efforts being made by schools and teachers to cope with the present supply teacher crisis against a background of the introduction of new qualifications. These cuts, aligned with all these other pressures, will clearly impact on the quality of learning and teaching.
The period of consultation in Glasgow is extremely short and we have as yet no detail as to what is being proposed as part of the #163;11 million cuts over the next two years. In addition to this, there are a further #163;5 million cuts to “non-core funding” still to be announced. These and the accumulation of cuts in previous years will add to workload and stress and inevitably impact on the delivery of learning and teaching.
Hugh Donnelly, EIS local association secretary, Glasgow.
