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| Hundreds march to protest teacher training cuts |
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Originally published on February 2nd, 2010 Several hundred marchers turned out in support of Moray House staff last Wednsday in protest against SNP proposals to cut teacher training.
Under current proposals, Moray House would lose 25 to 40 staff members. The University has already announced that PGDE Primary places for students are being cut from 280 to 60, while PGDE Secondary will face the loss of Biology and RME. Supported by EUSA, the march from Moray House to Scottish Parliament saw attendance by staff and students from the Universities of Edinburgh, Glasgow, Strathclyde and Aberdeen, in addition to representatives from the University and College Union Scotland. “Moray House has to make cuts because the government has cut funding to student teachers, but the university isn’t exactly trying to cushion the blow. We’re marching to defend Moray House,” said Katherine McMahon, EUSA external convener. EUSA president Thomas Graham, also present at the march, described the SNP’s education proposals as “A failed commitment of a failed manifesto of a failed government.” “Moray House is one of the few schools where the government controls places, on the basis that the government controls many teaching positions. And while it’s not exactly the university’s fault, they could be a lot more transparent,” he added. Similar opinions were expressed by Ross MacRae, the chair of Scottish Labour Students and former Moray House student: “2,500 teachers and 1,000 support staff have already been cut this year in Scotland. When the SNP cuts now, they create a legacy of not creating teaching jobs.” University and College Union Scotland vice-president Gordon Watson, who attended the rally as part of UCU Scotland’s ‘Defend jobs, defend education’ campaign, said that the government “needs to provide consistency". Speaking to The Student, he said: "You can’t suddenly produce new teachers. All it takes is a little arithmetic to figure out how many you’ll need – education needs sustainability.” Marchers carried signs featuring slogans such as ‘Fight for the right to work’. Police halted marchers outside the main entrance to Parliament, where the protest was joined by several MSPs. Robert Brown, Liberal Democrat MSP for Glasgow and former deputy education minister, said that the issues being raised by protesters were worthwhile and important: “What the government should be doing is ensuring education jobs; frankly, they’ve made a hash of it.” Scottish Labour education spokesperson Des McNalty said that protesters were rightly angry. His views were echoed by Ken Macintosh, Labour MSP for East Renfrewshire and shadow schools secretary, who spoke to third year primary education students present at the protest. “It doesn’t exactly give you a feeling of confidence, and it’s not just your jobs, it’s the jobs of your lecturers. What we need is workforce planning to predict need in advance. In 4 to 5 years there will be a shortage of teachers.” When pressed by students as to what action he would take, Macintosh assured students that his party would do all they could to prevent the cuts, saying: “One thing governments can do in a recession is provide education, so that everyone can contribute". UCU Scotland members, including Terry Wrigley, professor in teacher education at Moray House, met with Mike Russell, Cabinet Secretary for Education whilst marchers waited outside. Commenting afterwards, Wrigley told The Student: “I personally didn’t think he was listening, it’s not hard to understand how serious this is, when jobs are cut you lose vital specialists, expertise that will never be recovered. We have already lost experts in ADHD and Down syndrome who will not be replaced because of the cuts. Education is a complex tapestry – you can’t just cut the end off.”
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