Tory MSP slams drop in ASN staff
NICOLA FINDLAY
A Tory MSP has criticised South Lanarkshire Council over the drop in the number of Additional Support Need (ASN) teachers here.
Graham Simpson insists figures highlighted by the Teacher Census Data (TCD) show ‘too few’ staff working in additional needs and learning support.
He says the recent trend highlights a decline in staff with specialist roles.
The TCD showed a drop in ASN and learning support teacher numbers from 81 in 2013 to 56 in 2018 – a 31 per cent decrease.
But both South Lanarkshire Council and Linda Fabiani MSP believe the drop relates to changes in how the census data is recorded, and that the pupil/teacher ratio remains the same.
Mr Simpson believes this has led to “teachers having excessive workloads,”preventing them from “meeting the needs of every child”.
He told the News: “I am deeply concerned that these numbers have fallen.
“With ever-increasing numbers of children requiring additional support, it is essential they are able to get the support they require.
“Losing qualified, experienced teachers from the profession adds to others’ workloads and damages morale across the school community.
“The Scottish Government and local councils must do more to attract and retain more ASN teachers and support assistants.”
But Ms Fabiani hit back at Mr Simpson saying he should have done his homework to check in with the local authority over the discrepancies brought about by the new TCD recording methods.
The SNP representative said: “As ever, the Tories are looking for the bad news story and doing down our excellent education system.”
Teachers working in an ASN area in secondary schools can be recorded as either working within a specialist provision or for the subjects they are teaching.
SLC head of education, Stewart Nicolson, said: “There has been no fall in the numbers of teachers working with pupils with additional support needs.
“TCD figures show the pupil/ teacher ratio in secondary schools for both 2013 and 2018, was 12.6 to 1.”