More than pound;70 million has been wasted training teachers who have not found a permanent job, the Scottish Labour Party claims. The Scottish Parliament Information Centre puts the total cost of initial teacher education and the induction year at pound;85m, based on 3,762 teachers who graduated in 2007-08 and started as probationers in 2008-09. Labour then calculates that, since the recent TESS survey of probationer employment showed only 15 per cent of last year’s probationers had found permanent jobs, pound;72m had been spent on those who were in temporary or supply roles, or had not found any work. The Scottish Government said the figure was a “gross misrepresentation”, as not every probationer had a job at the start of the school term. The figure was revised upwards from an initial Labour estimate putting the cost at more than pound;60m.
HMIE has reached nearly all its targets for 2008-09. Its annual report shows that it carried out more inspections and became more efficient. Inspections took place in 341 pre-school centres, 262 primary schools, 55 secondaries and 34 special schools, as well as the education departments of six local authorities. Child-protection services in 10 council areas were also inspected.
Recruitment problems in Aberdeenshire have “largely been resolved” after concerted efforts to tackle them, the council said. Education bosses have complained about struggling to fill teaching posts, particularly in rural schools, mainly because teachers were reluctant to move north of the central belt. Now, the authority has used “creative advertising” (pictured above) to highlight the area’s quality of life, held discussions with students near the end of training, and mentored probationers. The authority credits this work with 140 teachers having been appointed to Aberdeenshire since the start of the year, and 90 having taken up permanent jobs or long-term temporary posts since March.
Minister for Gaelic Michael Russell has announced pound;500,000 for Glasgow City Council to create more Gaelic-medium school places and resources. The money will be used to renovate classrooms at the city’s Gaelic school, which is dealing with increased demand for places in P1 and the early years from across central Scotland.
A pound;1 million pot of cash seized from criminals is on offer to youth projects throughout Scotland. Applications to the Scottish Government’s Cashback for Communities scheme should arrive by October 31.
- www.youthlinkscotland.org
Labour has attacked the SNP for failing to include measures to tackle child protection in its programme for government, or any proposals on education. A Scottish Government spokesman said it was “pursuing all practical measures to make our child-protection systems and processes as good as they can be and, crucially, tackling the root causes”.
West Dunbartonshire Council is seeking artists to take creative-learning lessons in schools, covering media, visual art, film, craft, textiles, music and dance.
T: 0141 952 7292
There is still a chance for schools to publish their pupils’ work for free - and sell the books to raise school funds. The We are Writers! scheme, run by Scholastic with the support of The TESS, has extended the deadline for entries by a week to September 18.
