The problems with education in Scotland are not about structure; they’re about funding and resources
Ross Greer MSP, Education spokesperson for the Scottish Greens, today (23 March) criticised the Education Secretary for describing opposition to proposed reforms as "worrying".
The Scottish Government has proposed changes including moving control from councils to new education regions and head teachers.
Ross Greer MSP said:
“From today’s comments it seems the Education Secretary still doesn’t get it. The problems with education in Scotland are not about structure, they’re about funding and resources.
"When there are four thousand fewer teachers than a decade ago, five hundred fewer Additional Support Needs teachers than in 2010 and hundreds of support staff gone, it’s beyond me how the government can turn a blind eye to that and focus instead on ‘structural reforms’ when there isn’t the evidence that structures are the problem, nor that changing them will improve the education of our young people.
“The government are trying to present centralisation – where they take power away from our elected local councils and move it to an abstract, currently non-existent regional level – as decentralisation. Moving a few powers down to schools whilst you move almost everything else further up won’t solve the problem. Getting more teaching and support staff back in our schools, with better, more accessible training, will.”