Tories attack SNP over fall in number of teachers

THE SNP is facing increasing pressure over rising class sizes after it emerged teacher numbers are soaring south of the Border.

The Scottish Government had tried to blame the crisis in schools on Westminster spending cuts.

But in First Minister’s Questions, Tory leader Ruth Davidson told MSPs that while teacher numbers had fallen year after year in Scotland, they had risen by 12,000 since 2007 in England, which faces the same financial pressures.

She added: ‘Here is the thing that neither the First Minister nor the education minister will admit – budgets have been restrained right across the UK and yet elsewhere teacher numbers are going up.’

The Tory leader said: ‘There is a reason for that. When headteachers are given the power to run their own school and are freed from the dead hand of central

‘Dead hand of central control’

control, they make better decisions for their school, better decisions about staffing and better decisions for their pupils.

‘This SNP Government is failing our children, even by its own measures, because teacher numbers are down, class sizes are up and we are struggling in the international league tables.’

Nicola Sturgeon admitted that the Scottish education figures released on Wednesday had been ‘disappointing’.

They revealed that teacher numbers had fallen to a sevenyear low of 49,611, while the pupil-teacher ratio had risen to 13.6 – a seven-year high.

Miss Sturgeon said: ‘There is work to be done, I readily accept that, and of course there are challenges.

‘How could it be otherwise when our budget has been cut by 10 per cent since 2010?

‘This government’s record on education, where there is no room for complacency, is good and strong. I want it to improve even further. It stands very strong comparison with the records of our predecessors.’