Teachers fear school cuts are harming pupils

TEACHERS fear a mixture of job cuts, temporary contracts and huge numbers of graduates is having a detrimental effect on Scotland’s pupils.

The warning comes as more than 170 teachers are being axed by Glasgow City Council while Falkirk Council is looking to cut its school week by two hours.

Concerned teachers, union leaders and parent groups are calling for more education funding, with critics saying the SNP must ditch ‘vanity projects’ to ensure money isn’t squandered.

Meanwhile a teacher has spoken of the impact on children.

The Glasgow-based primary teacher is being forced to join the supply list due to his short-term contract ending. He said: ‘The main problem with so many temporary contracts is the effect it has on the children in schools who are going from one teacher to the next and not having consistent faces in the school that they have built up relationships with.’

Teaching graduates are guaranteed a probation year through Scotland’s Teacher Induction Scheme. However, reports from 2022 have stated that in some areas only one in five went on to secure a permanent post. The teacher, who asked not to be named, added: ‘The public should know how much money is being wasted. If there have to be teacher job cuts there should also be cuts to the number of newly qualified teachers coming out of university – to keep the numbers high makes no sense.’

Last week John Swinney refused to answer a question four times about whether he will keep an SNP promise of hiring 3,500 extra teachers. Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar told The Mail on Sunday: ‘We need to stop wasting all this money.

‘Why are we wasting millions on incompetence, why are we wasting tens of millions on failed vanity projects and at the same time we’re cutting teacher numbers?’

The Scottish Government said it has provided councils with an additional £145.5 million to maintain staff numbers.