More needs to be understood about the impact of the £240m spent on recruitment of teachers and school staff. £240m was provided for the recruitment of extra staff in order to ensure resilience and to provide additional support for learning and teaching. In their written submission, jointly produced with Social Work Scotland, COSLA and ADES confirmed that over 1,600 teachers and staff have been brought in as a result of this funding. However, the Committee was unable to discover exactly how the rest of this money has been spent, and how well these resources have met the needs of pupils. It is unclear how much of the additional resource provided by the Scottish Government to support recovery has been used to— 1. recruit teachers and staff to support children and young people with additional support needs; 2. convert temporary teaching positions to permanent positions; and 3. to support non-mainstream settings. The Committee agrees that setting outcomes, and clearly explaining how success will be measured, is critical to assessing the effectiveness of any intervention. The Committee would therefore welcome more information from the Scottish Government on the outcomes achieved as a result of the resources it provided to support children and young people during the pandemic, including the specific issues highlighted above. The Committee notes the findings of the Morgan review. Given the impact of the pandemic on children with additional support needs, the Committee considers that implementation of the recommendations is required as a matter of urgency.
I would welcome transparency regarding the use and impact of this funding.
Teachers were left on their own with other agencies pulling out of working with those they were supporting previously. I saw a major decline in the physical skills of children with complex needs because physio didn't see them at all until very very recently and by then any progress they had been making before was gone. The emphasis in the first lockdown was mental health but has been numeracy and literacy since then with very little understanding of the mental health impact from the government
Although additional funding will have supported schools during a period of crisis - we really need to know what impact this funding had and is having. In my experience, schools are still struggling to recruit and fill posts and staffing issues (due to ongoing C19 absences) continue to be a major challenge. Should some of this money be ringfenced to support increased numbers at ITE level to support new staff trained in trauma informed practice/recovery methodologies coming into the profession?
The amount spent seems to have been in the main on teachers who have little or no training in dealing with mental health issues and no training available. Much of the money has been spent on promoted posts instead of supporting classroom delivery. Not enough checks and balances
My child's school has been understaffed for years and years, but now it is scary. Disabled children do not have the 2 staff support that they need. Other teaching staff are being called on to assist as and when required and the head of education says this is ok! There is no respect, dignity for these children, rights are being breached and as parents we are fearful about how these negative and traumatic experiences will impact our children in the long term
Bare minimum staffing is an insult to children and families. Having just enough teaching and non teaching staff in schools is an affront to policies such as UNCRC and GIRFEC. If the government are serious about child health and wellbeing and improving attainment, staff schools adequately - they need far more resources. Why are you so scared about having an extra staff member in school - it is hardly likely that they will have nothing to do!
Local authorities need to detail this. Schools have found difficulty in attracting certain subject teachers - normal absence and maternity leave adds to this - but Covid is an added strain. Covering classes with non-specialist teachers isn’t good enough (my daughter missed more than a week of Maths as teacher off ill with Covid - and they were just tasked with ‘revising’ - now 2 weeks behind in their N5 learning).
Absolutely agree on need for Morgan recommendations. Cannot comment on added staff as ours were removed, no additional staff provided. Currently school of 1200 has an LST who is teaching mainstream classes therefore not supporting asn pupils and 2 PSAs. No needs being met
This is a huge amount of money and there is no transparency on how it was used.
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