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| Teacher training places cut by 40 per cent |
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Originally published on February 16th 2010 The SNP have announced a 40 per cent cut in teacher training places, in an effort to cut teacher unemployment.
The move, which was announced last week, has drawn criticism from the already heavily burdened education sector, including from staff and students at Moray House, the University of Edinburgh’s teacher training school. The announcement was made by the Scottish Funding Council and authorized by the Scottish Government. Moray House is one of four teaching training schools in Scotland; the others are part of Glasgow, Strathclyde and Stirling universities. Students and staff from Moray House, along with representatives of University and College Union (UCU) Scotland recently marched on Parliament to protest cuts to university places and jobs. Official statistics show that since the SNP took power, the number of working teachers in Scotland has dropped by 2,000. Universities have said that cuts may result in up to 100 university lecturers losing their jobs. Only one in seven teacher trainees found a permanent post last year. 1,550 training places will be cut, the vast majority at the primary level, lowering numbers from 3,857 in 2009-2010 to 2,307 in 2010-2011. Education Secretary Mike Russell, who met with UCU Scotland representatives, including Terry Wrigley, University of Edinburgh Moray House lecturer, at the Moray House march on Parliament, said the cuts had been in the works since September. “The Scottish Government took the decision to reduce student teacher intakes to deal with teacher unemployment. By reducing student numbers, we can create more jobs for those teachers already qualified,” he said The cuts, though expected, were much deeper than most anticipated. Lesley McIntosh, president of UCU Scotland, told The Scotsman “We have seen massive increases in the teacher education budgets, then cutbacks, on a cyclical basis, which just leads to a ridiculous hire-and-fire regime.” “I am astonished we have not learned from previous failings.” NUS Scotland president Liam Burns agreed adding that: “Nobody wants to see students study for four years on a false hope only to find that at the end of all that hard work there simply aren’t any jobs for them. However, Scotland can’t carry on with this boom-and-bust method of teacher training. With cuts to education departments at universities across Scotland, we could lose very talented lecturers, irreparably damaging departments that have built expertise in training teachers over many years.”
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