Education crisis in Clackmannanshire

Published 30 Jun 2010 10:54 3 Comments

EDUCATION officials are not prepared for the roll out of the Curriculum for Excellence in secondary schools across the county due to staff cuts and efficiency savings.

That is the view of Councillor Mark English, who launched a scathing attack on the administration in a letter to council chief executive Angela Leitch.

The SNP councillor, who is shadow portfolio for education, says the county's three secondary schools are not in a "strong position" following the departure of a number of key senior members of staff.

And union officials say the department could suffer due to the loss of expertise.

Over the past six months, the director of services to people Grahame Blair has been put on "gardening leave", education boss Jim Goodall has retired and two of the three headteachers from the local authority's secondary schools (Alloa and Lornshill) have stepped down.

Despite these claims, Labour councillor George Matchett says the schools are "well placed" to embrace the changes.

But Mr English, in his letter to the chief executive, says, "I am not convinced that Clackmannanshire schools are in a strong position to deal with the challenges that lie ahead.

"At a time when we need strong leadership to give focus and direction we instead find ourselves without a director responsible for education as Grahame Blair has been missing from post for some time.

"In addition, following the retirement of the head of education Jim Goodall, we have only appointed an interim head of education whose ability to fight for ever-diminishing cash could be restricted by the temporary nature of the job.

"And, out of our three secondary schools, we currently have two without headteachers and a delayed selection process for their replacement taking us into the autumn, which means there will be no handover period in the schools."

He added that the education department has seen its share of overall council expenditure fall from around 45 per cent to around 37 per cent, with £1.5m worth of budget cuts impacting on teacher numbers, curriculum choice, teacher training budgets and teacher support.

The Advertiser also understands that the quota for secondary probationary teachers has been reduced to two.

Mr English highlights Alloa Academy as an example.

The secondary school has already budgeted for £190,000 worth of savings but the local authority has requested a further £160,000 - £115,000 in staffing and £45,000 in vacancy management - as part of council-wide cuts.

Outgoing headteacher Ralph Barker warned of "substantial staff cuts" in his final newsletter to parents - citing the loss of eight teachers, including two from English, with only the Chemistry post advertised.

In addition, two members of staff have transferred to neighbouring secondary schools, with a further two to be shared between the schools.

Meanwhile, music tuition will continue for S4-S6 pupils only.

Despite requests from the Advertiser, the council was unable to provide teacher numbers for Lornshill and Alva Academies. However, they are likely to be in a similar position to Alloa Academy.

In the newsletter, Mr Barker wrote, "Clearly the new headteacher has a major task to try to ensure as good a service as possible is maintained for our pupils in these difficult times and I have no doubt there will be further unpopular decisions to come which will require to be implemented.

"Please, however, do not blame this person, as if I were still here, they would still be on the table for implementation."

Mr Barker has since apologised for any concerns his comments might have caused and that they were never intended to be taken "negatively".

He added, "The three secondary schools will be working together over the next few years to continue to deliver an excellent service to our pupils and ensure that the inevitable budget reductions that councils will be faced with are minimised and imperceptible to them."

Union officials have also expressed concern about the exodus of experienced staff in the run up to the new curriculum rolled out in August.

It follows national calls by the Secondary School Teachers Association (SSTA) to delay its implementation for a year claiming teachers are unprepared - a message which has fallen on deaf ears of the SNP-led Scottish Government.

Ann Ballinger, General Secretary of the SSTA, said, "The big concern for us is that Clackmannanshire is a very small authority, so the expertise lies in a very small group and it would appear that group is all going at once.

"The two schools involved have experienced staff and while they don't see it as a huge difficulty, it's going to take a wee while for either an interim or permanent replacement to find their feet and make the hard decisions.

"On top of that we already have concerns about the Curriculum for Excellence."

But Councillor Matchett says the success of pupils does not depend on "a few people at the top".

He said, "We have said farewell to a number of members of education staff recently and their years of dedicated public service are appreciated.

"Parents and carers can be reassured that qualified and experienced staff continue to manage our education services and teach our children and young people.

"Acting headteachers will be in place at the start of the new term on 18 August and the recruitment of new headteachers for Alloa and Lornshill is underway."

He added that Alloa Academy was leading the way in Curriculum for Excellence and has been invited to showcase its work at the forthcoming Scottish Learning Festival.

Chief executive Angela Leitch added, "It goes without saying that investment in the skills of staff across the council (including teachers) is crucial and even more so that we maximise productivity and flexibility as we move into a period of greater financial restraint.

"Schools have participated fully in the ongoing improvement process, both to reduce costs and achieve better outcomes for our young people.

"It is appropriate then that efficiencies have been found in our educational establishments as in all other service areas."

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• 

  disillusioned parent
  Unregistered User
  Jun 30, 12:14
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  Anyone who attended the pupil prize-giving ceremony at Alloa Academy recently will surely agree that Mr Barker's speech was very negative (and this negativity was very much echoed by Mrs Turner although thankfully not by the other key members of staff present). We as parents can only hope that his eventual replacement has the positivity and energy to see the school through what will undoubtably be a very difficult few years.
  
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• 

  Kenny
  Unregistered User
  Jul 11, 14:30
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  Unfortunately the new head teacher (Mr McGhee) will not bring the improvements required for Alloa Academy. This is what happens when you promote from within Alloa Academy staff. New blood is required to raise the falling academic standards asap.
  
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• 

  anxious_parent
  Unregistered User
  Aug 15, 18:27
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  I think the appointment of Mr McGhee as acting head teacher is a disaster for Alloa Academy. The man has very little experience in management and surely there were better people for the job. I also attended both the senior and junior awards ceremonies this year and I feel that neither Mr Barker nor Mrs Turner were negative; merely realistic about the impact these massive budget cuts will have on the school. Their insight is, of course, based on years of experience in management within the teaching profession.
  
  I can only hope that the appointment of a permanent head teacher is given to someone who shows more promise of being capable at running a school than Mr McGhee.
  
  Recommend?   Yes 0     No 0

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