9 February 2010
Immediate release

HUGE TEACHER TRAINING CUTS CONDEMNED

Dumfries MSP Elaine Murray has condemned the SNP Government’s decision to slash the number of teacher training places in Scotland.

The Scottish Funding Council has announced a cut of more than 1,500 teacher training places across Scotland, with numbers falling from 3,857 in 2009/10 to 2,307 next year.
 
The number of trainee primary places will fall by more than half.

Elaine Murray MSP said: “The SNP’s handling of Scotland’s education system has been a fiasco. We’ve been especially hard hit in Dumfries and Galloway: Labour’s school building programme has ground to a halt with no new commissions and promises on class sizes and free school meals have been thrown out the window.

“Over a quarter of Scottish teachers are aged 56 or over but rather than effectively plan for the future workforce the SNP have cut off the pipeline to new teachers.

“The decision to slash the number of teacher training places will have serious long-term consequences for our education system as well as removing opportunities for young people who want to become teachers.

“Teacher numbers have already dropped under the SNP. What kind of signal does this send to the next generation of educators?

“I am also concerned about the impact on education departments in our universities. With fewer trainees coming through the door we could lose valuable lecturing staff as departments are forced to downsize. This could make it difficult to increase the number of trainees again in the future. It’s not as straightforward as simply turning the tap on and off.

Cllr Jeff Leaver, Labour’s Education spokesman on Dumfries and Galloway Council, added: “Unfortunately the confusion that permeates SNP education policy at Holyrood is all too apparent locally. Last week the SNP Leader was forced to publically distance himself from the position of his own members on the Education Committee. We need stability for our children and whether in Government or on the Council the SNP are all over the place.”

ENDS

CONTACT – ANDREW MACKENZIE 07769206856

NOTES TO EDITORS

The Scottish Funding Council;s bulletin, in which the figures are published, can be found here: http://www.sfc.ac.uk/web/FILES/Circulars_Intake_targets_for_the_controlled_subjects_in_higher_education_institu/sfc0510.pdf