A concerned teacher this week pleaded with education chiefs to provide more support for overstretched staff in Dumfries and Galloway’s schools.
This comes after it was revealed that one in three youngsters are now identified as having additional support needs in class – compared to below one in 10 a decade ago.
Julie Irving, a representative of primary teachers in the region, attended Dumfries and Galloway Council’s education committee on Tuesday where a controversial restructuring of school learning assistants was being debated.
It is feared that a restructure next year could leave struggling schools with even fewer resources and negatively impact on pupils and stressed-out staff.
Mrs Irving said: “We’ve talked about the attainment gap widening since Covid. If there ever was a time when we needed more support in our schools, it is now.
“What appears to have happened in a lot of primary schools is that support has been cut this year.”
Schools are granted additional PEF (pupil equity funding) cash to help support children from deprived backgrounds, but Mrs Irving argues that bigger town schools receive far more cash than those in rural areas.
She also insists that attainment is dropping for children from all backgrounds, not just those from deprived areas.
Mrs Irving said: “In smaller schools, you’ve got less money, you’ve got less staff, and we are reaching maximum class sizes.
“This is not across the whole authority, I know, but in some schools our classes are maxing out – and we’re getting less support than ever before.
“As a teacher it’s really, really difficult. We are trying our hardest.
“We only have so many hours in the day and when it comes to making additional resources, we no longer have classroom assistants. They went years ago with budget cuts.
“Teachers spend a lot of time making resources for pupils within their class, and there are more children in our class with additional needs as well.
“I’m really looking for assurances that it’s not just going to be the highest tariff children who get support. It needs to be spread across the board.”
“What assurance can you give me that, as a class teacher, I’m going to receive support for the children in my class who need it – and need it now?”
Council chief education officer Jim Brown replied: “Thank you. It’s terrific to hear your voice and articulating that so well about the impact of the increased need as a result of Covid.
“That’s the intention of this paper. We want to reach out to hear voices, look at data, and consider how the total resource can be used best to meet the needs of all children.
“You have my assurance that we will carry out this piece of work as articulate in the report, and bring back the options appraisal to see if this particular piece of work regarding the allocation of learning assistants can be done differently and better.”
Councillors agreed for the review of the learning assistant allocation process to go ahead, and for a range of options to be brought back to the education committee in November.
