Tories give Scottish supply teacher spending an ‘F for fail’
More than £1 million is being spent on supply teachers per week across Scotland, new analysis by the Scottish Conservatives has shown.
The figure is alongside data that shows around half of all councils have increased the number of supply teachers beingusedbetween2016/17and 2019/20, with the amount spent on supply teachers also rising in 18 of the 24 councils which responded.
Jamie Greene, the Scottish Conservatives’ education spokesperson, said the figures demonstrated the SNP’S “failure” to hire enough teachers to educate Scotland’s pupils, with there being around 1,600 fewer teachers in Scotland today when compared to when the SNP entered government in 2007.
However,thesnpclaimedthe figures showed Douglas Ross’s party were “blatantly trying to pullthewooloverpeople’seyes”
due to the fact supply teacher numbers have dropped in the past year and their salary costs had only risen due to pay rises from central government.
Overall, £53.7m was spent across Scotland’s local authorities on supply teachers in the 2019/20 financial year, the Scottish Conservative figures show, up from £50m in 2015/16 and £48.7m in 2016/17, but down by £5mwhencomparedto2018/19.
Mr Greene said: “The First Minister invited us to judge her record at Bute House on how she performed on education. Well her exam paper is back,markedandi’mafraidthe grade is an F for fail.
"Our pupils having to rely on so many supply teachers demonstratethesnpgovernment’s failure to retain and recruit the teachers Scotland needs.
“This is only one of the many ways in which the SNP have let down our schools, resulting in children’s education suffering.
“Thingshavebeenevenworse during the pandemic, with the botched rollout of home learning by [education secretary] John Swinney being a national embarrassment which has failed schools and pupils alike.
“The Scottish Conservatives have set out an ambitious educational catch-up scheme to undo the damage done by the SNP. We will get our pupils back in the classroom, set up a national tutoring scheme and recruitanextra3,000teachers.”
The figures show a relatively static number of supply teachers over the past five years, with gaps in the data making direct comparisons difficult.