EIS Statement Reproduced in Full EIS Response to the Additional Support for Learning Service Review An invalid assumption is made throughout this report and its appendices that mainstream teaching staff (particularly in primary schools) will simply take over much of the work currently done by ASL teachers when their posts disappear though ERVS. What has become of the SNP Government’s proud pledge to “retain teacher numbers”? 3.7 in the report talks about, “mandatory practices for school staff, particularly in planning, assessment, recording and reporting….”. This reads like a bureaucratic nightmare that is bound to impact heavily on teachers’ workload. Councillors are reminded that teachers are contracted to work a 35 hour week (which is not elastic). Something has to give. Extra work is being foisted on primary teachers (and secondary teachers to a lesser extent). It is proposed to cut 15 primary learning support teachers and 10 secondary teachers over the next 3 years. The significant drop in the number of support workers envisaged ( 14 FTE) over that timescale also impacts disproportionately on primary teachers because they will find themselves increasingly forced to do the work currently done by classroom assistants. The loss of 1.7 FTE psychologists and 7.4 other support professionals will increase the workload of their colleagues too. It is inconceivable, if this cut goes ahead, that primary teachers faced with extra statutory duties associated with meeting the needs of pupils with Additional Support Needs, will have any time available for developing the Curriculum for Excellence. It is incredible to read in 4.11 point 5 that services will continue to “Improve Delivery of Support for Learners” after such significant cuts. It is also insulting to our professionalism to quote the Standard for Full Registration as justification for assuming that teachers will meekly accept this extra workload. The EIS is determined to resist the additional stress that this kind of cutback will cause to workers in the education service. We must never lose sight of the fact that it was the misdeeds of bankers that gave the Coalition Government the excuse to attack our public services in the name of their austerity programme.
Posted on: Wed, 17 Dec 2014 07:51:55 +0000
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