Scotland’s budget: how it affects education
Video Message: Scotland’s budget – how it affects education
Education Secretary Michael Russell outlines how Scotland’s budget affects education, including a strengthened commitment to Curriculum for Excellence, EMAs, university places and early years.
SCOTLAND’S BUDGET
A deal with COSLA and an agreement with universities and colleges has protected teaching jobs and student places, despite the tough decisions that have had to be taken on spending as part of today’s budget.
The majority of education spending is part of the local government settlement which is held by local authorities who are seeing a cut of just 2.6 per cent in their budget. The central education budget will reduce in revenue terms by 6.8 per cent while the capital budget falls by 28.9 per cent. A total reduction of £233.8 million produces a budget of £2583.6 million for 2011/12.
The savings, to be achieved primarily by cutting bureaucracy and tackling inefficiency, will enable teaching jobs to be protected by securing vacancies for the number of teachers finishing probation in 2011 and a further real reduction in longer term teacher unemployment as agreed with the COSLA leadership.
Key investments include:
For teachers:
An agreement with the COSLA leadership that teaching jobs will be protected by securing vacancies for the number of teachers finishing probation in 2011 and a further real reduction in longer term teacher unemployment. The deal also agrees to maintain pupil teacher ratios in P1 to P3.
A total funding package for local government to maintain the commitment to Curriculum for Excellence and the Early Years Framework.
For schools:
£9 million to development a new generation of National Qualifications for Curriculum for Excellence.
£20 million to support investment in school buildings across the length and breadth of the country.
The establishment of a new executive agency – the Scottish Education Quality and Improvement Agency, initially bringing together Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education (HMIe) and Learning and Teaching Scotland (LTS).
For the early years:
A new Early Years and Early Intervention Fund from 2011-12 with initial start-up funding of £5 million
£86 million to support the most vulnerable in our society via the Early Years Framework, reformation of the children’s hearings system and continued roll-out of Getting it Right for Every Child.
For students and school leavers:
An agreement with colleges and universities that the total number of student places will be protected.
Continued investment in supporting our students in school, further and higher education and training, including a guarantee that that no existing student will see their living costs support decrease in academic year 2011-12.
Continuation of the Educational Maintenance Allowance scheme – the flagship programme for supporting 16-19-year-old still in learning – unlike other parts of the UK.
To ensure more local input into supporting those most directly affected by the impacts of the recession and budget cuts, Skills Development Scotland will work closely with Community Planning Partnerships to deliver more support for young people seeking work within incredibly challenging labour market conditions.
A news release is also available at the Scottish Government website and the budget document can be viewed here.
19 comments
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Susie Braham, Engage for Education. Engage for Education said: Exclusive: Video messsage from Education Secretary M Russell on Scottish budget http://bit.ly/cSxBgH [...]
As a probationer teacher I welcome the stated commitment to secure vacancies for this years probationer teachers.
This promise must be fulfilled fully and properly. Today’s NQ teachers, like the generations before them, have chosen the profession to provide the best for the young people of Scotland. They must be allowed to contribute and work to achieve this goal.
As a nation, we cannot afford to turn new teachers away from the profession due to lack of employment opportunity – too much money, time and effort has been spent to train them to a high standard.
The delivery of the quality of education that Scotland’s young people deserve – depends on this.
As I have had some experience (!) of my comments being censored for ‘tone’ (and I thought it was legitimate opinion) I will say at the outset I mean the following in all honesty:
I think the comments of Mr Russell are an excellent example of his professional skills in the media.
However, I also think they raise more questions than provide answers. I wouldn’t mind some answers to the following (although again, from experience, answers are not usually forthcoming an/or fail to address the actual questions in a haze of ‘puffery’!):
1)”Continued investment in supporting our students in school”- if this is the case, why have many local authorities already been clawing back significant %’s of per capita funding even before the budget was announced and nothing done about it by the Scottish Government?
2)”Continuation of the Educational Maintenance Allowance scheme” – The think tank Policy Exchange has said ‘the EMA is, in effect, a massive deadweight cost – providing payment to 46% of learners, the vast majority of whom would have been in post-16 education in any case. Once new government legislation to make 16–18 education or training compulsory comes into force in 2013 the entire cost of the EMA will effectively become deadweight. As young people will have to participate anyway, it can have no positive incentive effect.’ While this may be debatable, schools across Scotland have been under huge pressure to retain post 16 students who have no interest in learning, are disruptive of those who are and pocket EMA as a form of early unemployment benefit as schools are prevented from expelling them. Is scoring cheap points off other political parties a legitimate reason to fail to review the value of EMA?
3)”The majority of education spending is part of the local government settlement which is held by local authorities who are seeing a cut of just 2.6 per cent in their budget. ” Will the Cabinet Secretary finally get around to ring fencing the educational element of local government funding, or watch it once more disappear into a general pot?
Last one for now!!
4) “teaching jobs to be protected by securing vacancies for the number of teachers finishing probation in 2011 and a further real reduction in longer term teacher unemployment” Local government is ever eager to reduce staffing in schools (faculties, growing secondary class numbers, sacking class room assistants etc), can the Cabinet Secretary explain how he will ensure there are the vacancies AND that probationers are not used as ‘cheap fodder’? Not my words by the way, these came from outwith schools!
I look forward to a reply!
AnActualTeacher:
Moderation is kept to an absolute minimum, however we reserve the right to decline publication for both community and legal reasons.
All moderated users are given the opportunity to rephrase and repost their opinions.
Further information is available within our Code of Conduct, Terms and Conditions and Moderation rules.
Kind Regards
Maria Campbell, Community Manager
This video is an absolute disgrace. It is nothing less than political propaganda and spin. It is scandalous that a Scottish Government website which is supposed to be aimed at promoting awareness of Scotland’s education system and in particular Curriculum for Excellence, should be used in this way.
As regards the points made by the Minster, the promise to secure vacancies is not the worth the permanent contract is is not written on! What kind of vacancy? 0.1 FTE 0.2 FTE etc etc etc. What kind of contract? Permanent or temporary?
What else has the Minister agreed with COSLA in the way of deterioration of teachers’ conditions of service? Additional contact time for teachers? Changes in salary levels for some staff? He should be honest and tell the public now.
And boasting of securing funding for CfE is akin to the White Star Line boasting of the lifeboat facilities on the Titanic.
On the surface the budget statement looks as positive as could be expected for education however I will not be reassured on this until I receive answers to the following:
When might there be more details about the new Early Years Early Intervention Fund?
When the Cabinet Secretary says Early Years does he mean Early Years Nursery or Early Years Primary or both.
Will this new fund ensure that there will be no further loss of teacher numbers from the nursery sector?
Will this new fund enable the Scottish Government to reverse the recent decline in numbers of teachers in the nursery sector?
I was going to wait two weeks BUT I’m snowed in so justs anote that it’s been 11 days and no reply to any of the questions posed (which can be added to previous questions over previous months on China, CfE etc) which haven’t been answered. When are the Scottish Elections? Judging by the number of Ministers cropping up on this site with ‘good news stories’ you’d think it was going to be in January 2011.
I’ll keep waiting Mr Russell, but if I kept a parent waiting this long for a reply I’d be acting unprofessionally!!!
Our school just heard the news today of what COSLA and the Scottish Government will be offering at the SNCT. What we have been shown (via the SSTA and not any official channels is:
1. Destruction of TP21 terms and conditions.
2. Pay freeze for 2 years.
3. Loss of conservation for all those affected by amalgamation, reorganisation and closures.
4. Salary point 1 only for supply staff – resulting in there being no incentive to offer permanent jobs.
5. 0.9 from 0.7 fte for probationers resulting in less posts and less CPD.
6. Longer working hours of at least 4.5%
7. Less leave.
Now – try to convince me that industrial action as a means of saving money is not the prime aim of management.
In 23 years of teaching, I have never seen such a reaction from staff and determination to,
1. Work to rule/contract
2. Organise industrial action.
Shame on you all.
Well I’m still waiting for my last comment to be moderated (29/11/10 – a new record for me and being moderated!)) but let me just add that what Sawney writes about confirms what many have suspected / known with regard to COSLA and the Scottish Government for a long time – it’s all VERY depressing.
However, it’s not totally surprising – COSLA has been ‘taking an interest’ in teachers and their terms and conditions for many years and the current fiscal crisis is another excuse.
Perhaps if the likes of COSLA, SOLACE et al looked a little closer to home (golden ‘hellos’ AND ‘goodbyes’, spiralling salaries etc etc), before casting their gaze upon others, one might feel less insulted!
Another example of ‘do what I say, not what I do’? On the other hand, now it’s increasingly out in the open, at least it’s not like someone trying to redefine the word ’secret’ when it comes to redirecting attention!!!
There are some very important comments and questions raised here and I would like to address the range of points being made specifically about teacher terms and conditions, jobs and the deal with CoSLA.
The Scottish Government is determined that the current financial challenges should not mean that we lose sight of the longer term improvements we want to see delivered in education. In the face of the most severe budget cuts Scotland has faced in decades we have delivered a budget to protect jobs and frontline services. The terms of the agreement with COSLA include a commitment to the implementation of Curriculum for Excellence and the Early Years framework as well as ensuring maximum employment opportunities for teachers. It is now for individual councils to determine whether they wish to take up the terms of this agreement which will see an extra £15m in the settlement to support the costs associated with protecting teacher jobs.
The agreement reached with COSLA will secure:
Places for all probationers under the induction scheme in August 2011.
Sufficient posts for all those finishing their probation in summer 2011 to apply for.
An overall reduction in the total number of unemployed teachers.
This means that we can continue to drive down teacher unemployment and deliver improved stability for headteachers, school, pupils and parents.
Unfortunately, the financial situation means that we all have to make some concessions in order to protect jobs and, the Scottish Government, COSLA and teachers need to consider what we can do together. You will note from the agreement that we seek to agree the following changes:
• A pay freeze in 2011/12 and 2012/13 for all employees (teachers and all associated professionals)
• An increase in contact time for probationers to 0.9 FTE
• Agreement that all supply teachers are paid on Point 1 of the Main Grade Scale and only for hours worked
• Removal of salary conservation
• Agreement that the Teacher leave year is moved to 40 days per annum for the calculation of family leave entitlements
• Freeze entry into the Chartered Teacher Scheme.
I am committed to the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers and any changes to teachers’ terms and conditions of employment will be negotiated through that body. These discussions will commence on 8 December and as you know SSTA will be part of that process. Clearly there is much detail to be considered during the negotiations.
I have also proposed a review of the teachers’ agreement “A Teaching Profession for the 21st century” (TP21) in light of the new financial situation but also to test whether teachers’ contracts are right for the future and for Curriculum for Excellence. This will be an independently chaired review of all aspects of the TP21 Agreement, starting in January and to report by June 2011. All parties will be involved in that process, including the unions.
On class contact time, I realise that there has been much speculation about this in the press. The agreement with COSLA protects the time available for teachers to plan and prepare for Curriculum for Excellence. There is no proposal for longer working hours.
I know that these changes could be difficult and I am I am grateful that so many are rising to the challenge. However, these are difficult times, and under current circumstances this is the best that we can do, to effectively deliver our most important priorities protecting both front-line services and jobs.
Michael Russell Cabinet Secretary for Education & Lifelong Learning
In reply to AnActualTeacher:
The Policy Exchange study of Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) refers to the programme in England. Following a full policy review and consultation two years ago, we refocused the EMA programme so that it is paid only to those young people most in need, from the lowest-income families.
We have no plans to rise the compulsory participation age in Scotland. 16+ Learning Choices, our model for offering a place in post-16 learning to every young person who wants it, calls on local authorities to work with schools, colleges, training providers, community learning and development, employers and the third sector to ensure that there is a wide range of attractive, relevant learning opportunities for young people. We must ensure that all our young people can choose the learning option that is best for them; for those young people from the lowest-income families, EMA is an important part of the support we can offer.
Michael Russell Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning
In reply to April:
Many thanks for your questions, we will announce more details on the Early Years Early Intervention Fund shortly, but it is important to note at this stage that the new fund will be aimed at voluntary sector bodies.
The joint Scottish Government/COSLA Early Years Framework covers the 0-8 age group, so the early years element of the fund may well focus on this age group. However, the fund also covers early intervention and it is likely that it will have a fairly wide scope aimed at improving outcomes for children, young people and families. Given that the Fund is aimed at the voluntary sector, we don’t envisage it being used to fund local provision of teachers in nursery or primary school settings.
Provision of teachers in nursery settings is for councils and their partner providers to negotiate and fund at local level. The Scottish Government does not intervene in these local decisions. The new fund won’t be used to substitute for any reductions in local authority funding.
However, we have made solid progress with the commitment to improve access to teachers in pre-school settings – over 9000 more children have had access to a teacher over the last two years.
I hope that this answer provides clarification for your early years concerns.
Thank you for your continued participation in the Engage Community,
Michael Russell Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning
Many thanks to the Cabinet Secretary and his staff for the responses provided. Sadly, as previous responses to questions in other workshops and blogs shows, the responses for the most part follow the now usual pattern of:
*repetition of previous statements;
*tangental answers that avoid the core of the question;
*ignore a question altogether.
Hardly in the spirit of the open, enquiring CfE!
As I had given up hope of getting a reply from the Cabinet Secretaries people I have only just checked the blog today and will try and reply (and yes, probably ask more questions!) as soon as possible (and certainly in less than three weeks).
Right, I’ve done my 3 hours Sunday work beating CfE into submission (I’d like to start getting ready plans for S3 in 2012 because I can guess how much time that’s going to take but no-one’s thought to organise that yet- CfE moral: always start a difficult journey not knowing where you are going). Anyway, I’ve got to start making Sunday dinner so … … here’s ‘Russell’s World’ Part 1(with apologies to Mike Myers for cribbing the title):
*”We all have to make some concessions in order to protect jobs and, the Scottish Government, COSLA and teachers need to consider what we can do together”. SO I’ll do that by chatting with COSLA who ALWAYS know what they are doing and leave the teachers / educationists until later: EXCELLENT!!
*”A pay freeze in 2011/12 and 2012/13 for all employees (teachers and all associated professionals)” – which means that high-ranking members of COSLA can keep giving themselves massive golden hellos and goodbyes, enhanced pensions etc : KERCHIING!!
*”Agreement that all supply teachers are paid on Point 1 of the Main Grade Scale and only for hours worked”. Despite having to teach, and notwithstanding they may be highly qualified with many years experience, I’ll treat them like newly-qualified teachers – still, with so many probationers likely to be forced onto supply staff lists in the coming year it will be soooo cheap : AWESOME!!
* “Removal of salary conservation” – you’ve done the job well and for so long, but now your surplus ‘go back to START, do not collect £200′ – MONOPOLICIOUS!!
* “Agreement that the Teacher leave year is moved to 40 days per annum for the calculation of family leave entitlements” If I can get an agreement on this then COSLA can see this as a greenlight to start to negotiate teacher’s hours on a Local Authority basis and we can kiss goodbye to collective bargaining” : UNION BUSTING GOODNESS!!
* “I have also proposed a review of the teachers’ agreement “A Teaching Profession for the 21st century” (TP21) in light of the new financial situation but also to test whether teachers’ contracts are right for the future and for Curriculum for Excellence. ” It’s not about what’s educationally right for young people, it’s about introducing poverty-level education : SCHWIING!!
Party on Mike, it’s a real treat seeing what’s going through the minds of COSLA and your advisors. Next week, Alice Cooper discusses the origin of some Native American words and why education policy shouldn’t be a political football.
… … Edited by Community Manager
Cabinet Secretary, what is Plan B? I do not see the unions accepting an attack on our conditions of service.
It is strange that you have made an agreement with COSLA before speaking to the teachers’ side.
The pay freeze can be argued for even though I am against a pay cut when you look at RPI and CPI.
The supply pay point 1 will lead to the educational equivalent of bed blocking. I know at least 3 part-time or job-share teachers at the top of the scale or on PT salaries who have helped their schools out through maternity leaves and serious illnesses who would, in future, be taking a massive pay cut to do so! Silly move.
The removal of salary conservation is despicable as many staff have stepped aside to allow ‘progress’ (ha! ha!) and reallocation of posts and their reward now will be to have a massive pay cut?
I am concerned that we have not been consulted over the deal so far and I personally expect industrial action and a withdrawal from all curricular development if they are forced through. Come on Mike, raise your game!
sawney hasbeen:
Thank you for your additional comments. I can assure you that all of these issues are currently being discussed by the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers (SNCT). This is the appropriate forum for the negotiation of teachers’ pay and conditions of service.
Michael Russell
Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning
Thank you for replying Mike. If the SNCT is the appropriate forum than maybe you should not have diminished many teachers’ holiday period by publicising the COSLA/ScotGov proposals.
To us, it looks like Glasgow is in charge of these negotiations.
I don’t think it should come as any surprise that a ’spoiler’ is published by the Cabinet Secretary prior to actual pondering by the SNCT… …Still, strange bedfellows they are not!
… … Edited by Community Manager
And so it came to pass that the tablets written in stone by the venerated two-in-one of MR&COSLA prior to ‘discussion’ with the venerable SNCT got spread across two pages of ‘The Scotsman’ (08/01/11) – or rather one facet of the collected wisdom:
‘Teachers could see ‘ringfenced’ wages cut by up to £13,000′ ; “It’s an indefensible absurdity – and no-one will take to the streets to protect it” writes Hugh Reilly with a glib grin that would make the Chesire Cat look dour.
Divide and conquer was a facile management strategy traditionally employed by the likes of Henry Ford when dealing with labour relations… … We can only hope that MR&COSLA doesn’t mean to carry on as they have started or we will all need to consider what steps have to be taken for the good of the education in Scotland.
… … Edited by Community Manager