Bottom of the class

September 28th, 2009

The Scottish Government has taken steps this week to cap class sizes in primary one to 25 pupils.

This should have been a positive move for parents who understandably want their children to get the most from their time at school.

But many in education circles have openly accused the Education Minister Fiona Hyslop of abandoning a key manifesto pledge to reduce class sizes to 18.

It proves that while it is easy to make big promises in opposition, delivering them once in government is a different story.

The fiasco will be met with a groan of disappointment by parents who were told this would raise standards in our schools.

But there is another group of people set to suffer from this failure.

The unintended consequence of larger classes is that there are less opportunities for probationary teachers.

For more than a year now, I have been highlighting the plight of those young people shut out of a teaching career because of a lack of opportunities.

Many were encouraged to leave other jobs and professions to get into teaching and are now finding their career over before it got started.

Even those lucky enough to get a post are being denied full-time contracts and have to settle for temporary deals.

In some cases, those enthusiastic teachers caught up in this situation are getting up in the morning, dressing for work and then waiting by the phone hoping someone has called in sick so they get the opportunity to fill in for the day.

It’s a way of life we would normally associate in the past with dock workers, who would queue up in the morning hoping a ship would come in to give them a day’s work.

Those employment practices weren’t acceptable then and it is certainly no way to treat the people responsible for the education of our children.

Its no wonder The Educational Institute of Scotland are calling for more to be done to get teachers into work.