Government focus on teacher numbers ‘may not be right’, Holyrood committee told

The Scottish Government’s commitment to not cutting teacher numbers may not be the “right focus in terms of education”, MSPs have been told.

David Robertson, chief executive of Scottish Borders Council, has insisted school heads should have the flexibility to “employ the number of teachers they require”.

With the Scottish Government threatening to reduce funding for local authorities who cut teacher numbers, the council chief said: “We don’t believe the focus should be simply about the number of teachers we are employing, particularly as the number of pupils we are actually educating is falling.”

The current budget provides Scotland’s 32 councils with £145.5 million to maintain teacher numbers at their present level – with the Scottish Government having warned cash could be withheld if authorities reduce the number of teaching staff.

Mr Robertson, giving evidence to MSPs on Holyrood’s Finance Committee, said “the reality behind this is it is head teachers who run schools … and we think it is right that those teachers should therefore be allowed to employ the number of teachers they require within the overall resource envelope.”

He also stressed the importance of ensuring “teachers have to teach in good quality buildings, with appropriate resources, supported by a range of professional staff”.

The council chief executive said: “If we simply focus on the number of teachers we have, which seems to be the kind of polarised debate that is going on, we don’t think that is the right focus in terms of education.”

His comments came as he told MSPs that local government has “less flexibility” to provide services because much of the funding they receive is “directed to specific areas” – such as employing teachers.

Mr Robertson said that meant authorities were now having to cut back on “quality-of-life services”, such as repairing potholes, cutting the grass and library services.

Councils can only make savings in “about 20% of our overall spend”, he said, telling the committee: “Our flexibility is being constrained year upon year in terms of what we are doing and we are increasingly seeing we are being forced into making reductions we wouldn’t ideally wish to make, but unfortunately to ensure the authorities remain financial sustainable, those are the kind of areas we are going into.

“So, we’re closing public toilets, we’re reducing our grass maintenance, we’re reducing the types of things that people are noticing.

“The reality behind many council services is they require people, they require carers, they require refuse collection drivers, they require operatives in the street, and we are increasingly creaking in terms of our workforce planning.”

Mr Robertson said that councils being told “you need to employ this number of teachers” affected staffing in other areas.

“That does have an impact in terms of the number of social workers and care staff, and all the rest of it, that we can ultimately employ,” he said.

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “The Scottish Government is determined to protect teacher numbers, which is why we are making £145.5 million available to local authorities for that purpose.

“Talks are continuing with Cosla (Convention of Scottish Local Authorities) to reach an agreement which ensures teacher numbers are protected.

“The Education Secretary has been clear that the challenges faced by our schools post-Covid will not be solved with fewer teachers in Scotland’s schools.”