Cash meant for pupils ‘siphoned off to boost teacher pay’
TAXPAYERS’ money intended to tackle the attainment gap between the best and worstperforming schools has been spent on topping up teachers’ pay, it was claimed yesterday.
Nicola Sturgeon created a £120million fund for schools to help bridge the educational divide between rich and poor.
But Seamus Searson, general secretary of the Scottish Secondary Teachers’ Association, said the cash was ‘shoring up what had been lost’ in cuts, adding: ‘This is not a cherry on the top – it’s plugging gaps.’
And Eleanor Coner, of the
‘Farcical state of affairs’
Scottish Parent Teacher Council, said: ‘We are starting to gather all sorts of stories about the Pupil Equity Fund (PEF).
‘Many schools do seem to be spending the money on staff: family-learning workers, familylink workers, etc. One could question whether that is added value, as this service was certainly hit by budget cuts.’
A Times Education Supplement Scotland probe found one 13-class primary school spent PEF cash on higher salaries, with ten teachers now on management-level pay.
One teacher said PEF compensated for cuts to pupil support, so the ‘net effect is nothing’.
Mike Corbett, of the NASUWT Scotland teaching union, said that in one case, PEF cash went on an artificial turf playing surface – ‘not quite what we were expecting in terms of attempting to close the poverty-related attainment gap’.
Greg Dempster, general secretary of primary school leaders’ body AHDS, said: ‘When core funding is being reduced, there is a clear temptation and sometimes pressure to plug gaps with PEF.’
George Gilchrist, a recently retired primary headteacher, said some councils and schools were ‘trying to plug funding gaps’ but others were ‘ensuring [PEF] is protected and used for targeted strategies’, like breakfast clubs.
The PEF was launched this year, with the promise that schools would receive an extra £1,200 in 2017-18 for each P1-S3 child registered for free meals.
It later emerged that North Lanarkshire Council, in plans since abandoned, wanted to use 15 per cent of its nearly £9million allocation to pay for existing classroom assistants and admin staff.
Last week it was reported that Glasgow City Council wanted to put PEF money towards janitors’ pay, although the council later insisted this was not the case.
Labour education spokesman Iain Gray called the management of PEF ‘a farcical state of affairs’. Council umbrella body Cosla would not comment on PEF but said it ‘will be presenting [to the Scottish Government] a strong case that local government cannot sustain further cuts’.
The Scottish Government said: ‘Plans for using this funding must be grounded in evidence of what is known to be effective at closing the attainment gap.’
Meanwhile, the Voice Scotland education union has warned of a slump in morale amid falling staff numbers. Professional officer Dougie Atkinson said teacher feedback paints ‘a bleak picture’.