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Education leaders warn on early years’ expansion |
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Monday, 23 April 2007 |
Head of the Education Institute of Scotland Ronnie Smith has expressed strong concern about the Labour Party’s newly announced plans to substantially expand early years education, saying that there are enough problems providing qualified teachers for nurseries at the current level of demand.
Smith said that expansion for the sake of expansion would also risk
diluting the nursery education provision that already exists, and which
is already being eroded. The number of qualified nursery teachers in
Scotland dropped by 5 per cent over the past year, from 2,181 in 2005
to 2,068 in 2006.
Due to financial pressures, several local authorities have reduced
numbers of trained nursery teachers – sometimes moving them into
primary school jobs – or have held reviews into the use of teachers in
the nurseries that they run. The most notable decision so far has been
Glasgow City Council’s decision to axe some 40 nursery teachers and
instead employ staff who are not trained teachers.
This is partly, said Smith, because the provision of nursery school
education is not underpinned by statute in the same way as primary
school education. “While it is portrayed as getting lots of attention
and status, if you don’t ensure highly qualified teachers, you are
putting out the message that nursery education is less important.
“Early education is just that – education – not just a place to put children to free up their parents’ time.”
Nonetheless, Labour’s “Sunshine Agenda” includes plans to expand
education to 10,000 two year olds and for all 3-5 year olds to 15 hours
per week over 38 weeks per year.
Headteacher of Jordanhill Primary School – and recent president of the
Association of Headteachers and Depute Headteachers in Scotland –
Gordon Smith also hit out at the lack of foresight and funding for
nursery education, and the number of teachers being lost from the
profession.
Smith warns that nursery education “is changing by accident, and not by
planning” and says that while he understands the problems experienced
by local authorities, such as single status payments, he does not see
why changes to nursery education cannot happen in a “discussed, planned
way”.
Almost half of Scottish nurseries now do not have a trained nursery teacher who is registered with the General Teaching Council.
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