ONE of Scotland’s leading teachers unions has been accused of being too close to the government by Cosla, the body that represents the country’s councils.
It said it is “increasingly hard to separate out Government and EIS policy on teachers and education” after the union accused the councils of “ambivalence” on maintaining teacher numbers.
Statistics released last week showed that the number of teachers in Scotland, and the teacher to pupil ratio was maintained as a result of 22 local authorities meeting or exceeding commitments to staffing levels made with the government.
Ten other councils failed, and because they had been given a share of £51 million to maintain numbers, they may now face a financial penalty from the Scottish Government.
General Secretary of the EIS Larry Flanagan said: “It should not be forgotten that a total of £51m in additional funding from the Scottish Government was allocated to local authorities for the specific purpose of maintaining teacher numbers.
“There is simply no logic in the argument, from Cosla and some of the failing authorities, that they should be allowed to keep this funding and spend it as they see fit.
“This extra funding was allocated for one purpose – to maintain teacher numbers.
“Specifically £10m was available to councils as additional funding where they had delivered on their commitments.
“The EIS believes that this extra £10m should be distributed only to those authorities which met or exceeded their commitments to provide enhanced support for education in those areas.”
The union said that the promise of £51m from the government was “hard won” and “came at significant cost to teachers”, with “cuts of some £60m to teachers’ terms and conditions that have still not been reversed”.
Flanagan added: “Clearly, there are challenges to be overcome on teacher recruitment in some parts of the country, such as in rural and remote areas. But there is simply no excuse for councils where these recruitment challenges do not exist, including some notable large authorities in the central belt, for failing to meet their obligations on teacher numbers and losing out on additional funding as a result.”
Cllr Stephanie Primrose, the Education, Children and Young People spokesperson for Cosla, hit back saying the focus on maintaining teacher numbers was a “dead end”.
“Despite what the EIS say, no council has failed on education and, as we will no doubt see when the OECD publish their report on the curriculum for excellence, the strengths of Scotland’s education system remain considerable.
“We are far from complacent, but let’s focus on matters rather than a policy dead end like teacher numbers.
“We are not even ambivalent about the Government’s policy of teacher numbers. It is an overly simplistic, poorly devised and damaging policy that somehow magically equates a random number of teachers gathered on one day in September with how well children perform at school.”
Cllr Primrose went on to say the EIS should be ashamed: “It is now increasingly hard to separate out Government and EIS policy on teachers and education.”
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