Council leaders have this afternoon unanimously voted to reject a condition that a £145.5 million Scottish government grant will require teacher numbers to be maintained, in the hope of instead seeking a compromise.
All 32 Scottish local authorities have decided not to sign the grant letter that requires them to agree to maintaining teacher numbers.
Papers for a meeting today of local authorities’ body Cosla, seen by Tes Scotland, acknowledge that, in rejecting this, councils “may have to offer concessions”.
The papers suggests options that could instead include:
- Seeking to agree with the government that the pupil-teacher ratio, rather than the total number of teachers, is the measure for “monitoring the use of the £145.5 million, which would be part of the General Revenue Grant”.
- Freezing learning hours at current levels.
The first option above could allow councils to cut teacher numbers, as long as this was in line with falling school rolls.
Pressure to maintain teacher numbers
The papers for today’s Cosla meeting note that “there is not an appetite from [education secretary Jenny Gilruth] to consider an alternative approach” and that “we are now at a stage where there is not sufficient time to consider new approaches, with the school census taking place in September”.
Today’s vote has, however, come well before a 12 July deadline for councils to sign the grant letter.
A Scottish government spokesperson said: “While we are disappointed by the outcome of the Cosla leaders’ meeting, we will continue to engage with them to ensure that teacher numbers are protected. The Scottish government’s budget, which was endorsed by Parliament, protected funding for teacher numbers.
“We are, therefore, making £145.5 million available for that purpose and we hope that councils will act in the best interests of pupils and agree to maintain teacher numbers. Our shared ambition to close the poverty-related attainment gap is clear, and that aim will not be supported by having fewer teachers in our schools.”
A Cosla spokesperson said: “Councils rightly have high ambitions for all learners in Scotland, demonstrated through the stretch aims set to drive progress in raising attainment and closing the poverty-related attainment gap.
“We recognise the vital role of teachers in improving outcomes for children and young people but progress cannot be made by focusing on teachers alone.”
The spokesperson added: “Investment is required in wider support that may well sit outside the classroom and, indeed, the school. It is for this reason that councils cannot sign a grant offer letter that restricts the use of funding in this way, and does not enable a holistic focus on improving outcomes.”
In Scotland, state schools must, by law, be open for 190 days a year, but the number of learning hours is not legally prescribed.
This means that the time pupils spend in class varies across the country and it has at times come under threat as councils seek to balance their budgets without directly cutting teaching jobs.
Protecting teacher numbers an ‘absolute focus’
However, at a general election hustings organised by the EIS teaching union last week, Ms Gilruth said her “absolute focus as education secretary” had been on “protecting this funding for teacher numbers” - an issue that came to the fore in February after Tes Scotland revealed that Glasgow City Council was looking to cut 450 teacher jobs over three years as it sought to save £27.8 million.
At the EIS hustings, the education secretary added: “I’m very clear no local authority is going to receive that funding unless they agree to [maintain teacher numbers].”
Ms Gilruth has also said she wants to reach an agreement with councils over the minimum number of hours that children must spend in school, and has threatened to legislate if a voluntary agreement cannot be reached.
This afternoon an EIS spokesperson said: “The learning conditions of pupils and the working conditions of teachers should not be used as bargaining chips as Cosla and the Scottish government wrangle over education funding. The EIS does not accept that there should be any trade-off...regarding learning hours and teacher numbers.
“There is no educational rationale to be found for the cutting of teacher numbers, especially at a time when the resourcing of education must be increased. Education is not a luxury; it is an essential public and societal good.”
The spokesperson added: “The Scottish government was elected on a manifesto commitment to recruit 3,500 extra teachers that are sorely needed in the system to help address rising levels of additional support needs, behavioural issues and the already unsustainable levels of workload experienced by teachers.”
The EIS said these extra teachers are also needed in order to fulfil the government’s commitment to reduce teachers’ weekly class-contact time to 21 hours, which “would mark a step forward in reducing workload”.
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