By Lucy Ashton
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton today said the SNP have “systematically stripped expertise out of nurseries” after new analysis revealed that the number of teachers working in state-funded early learning and childcare has dropped 24% since the last round of council elections.
Across Scotland, there are now 219 fewer teachers in nurseries than when voters went to the polls in 2017. The fall comes despite Nicola Sturgeon promising that education would be her government’s number one priority.
The figures include a drop of 82 teachers in SNP-run Edinburgh, which took the decision in 2020 to remove all teachers from its nurseries.
The number of teachers has now more than halved in the last decade.
Alex Cole-Hamilton, pictured right, said: “Through sheer persistence the Scottish Liberal Democrats persuaded the SNP of the value of expanding free early learning and childcare. Every part of the sector should be thriving.
“However, these figures show that expertise has been systematically stripped from nurseries. Those with the best qualifications have their posts abolished because they are too expensive to keep.
“Nicola Sturgeon refused to even pick up the phone to her SNP councillors in Edinburgh when they voted to get rid of every single nursery teacher.
“Children have missed out on so much. The poverty-related attainment gap has got even bigger. But parents and teachers are struggling to see any difference in what’s on offer. That says it all about the SNP’s priorities.
Princess Anne visiting the nursery school at the Drumfork Centre in Helensburgh.
“Instead of being taken for granted you can vote for Scottish Liberal Democrats on 5 May and get a local champion determined to give new hope to young people.”
The Scottish Liberal Democrat analysis states that in 2011 there were 1,461 teachers working in the ELC sector. This compares to 923 in 2017 and 704 in 2021.
The EIS called the cuts in Edinburgh the “worst example of a short-term cut with devastating long-term impacts”.
Professor Ken Muir’s report, Putting Learners at the Centre: Towards a Future Vision for Scottish Education, published on 9 March 2022, included the following quote from evidence recieved from a trade union/professional association:
“Where Early Years (EY) education is valued and appropriately funded by local authorities, EY to primary transition processes can work well, with EY teachers and other practitioners provided time to collaborate with teachers in early primary. However, the disappearance of nursery teachers – critical bridging professionals – from the EY sector, lack of consistent support within primary for play-based approaches, and the introduction of assessment models that clash with a play-based ethos and pedagogy, combine to undermine some of the benefits that the 3-18 curriculum offers by way of EY to primary transition.”