Nursery education is to be a key priority when the EISlaunches its manifesto next month for the Scottish parliamentary elections.
The EIS blames the budget decisions of local authorities and the Scottish Executive for the loss of 112 nursery teacher posts during 2005 (News, 21 September 2006). It highlights Glasgow City Council as having redeployed 37 nursery teachers to P1 and P2 settings last year (News, 16 February 2006).
General secretary Ronnie Smith said, 'At the same time as the numbers of children aged three to five in pre-school education are increasing, the numbers of teaching posts are being cut. With all the weight of evidence pointing to the value of nursery education, it is perverse that local councils should now be reducing the numbers of nursery teachers working in their area.'
A Glasgow council spokesman said, 'No teaching posts have been deleted.
However, 35 teachers were moved from nursery establishments into P1 and P2 services to further improve standards at that critical stage.
'This has in no way diminished the quality of the service. The teachers we have moved were additional teachers in larger nurseries and they were replaced with highly qualified child development officers. Every council nursery school and class is still led by a fully-qualified teacher, which is more than the provision required in private nursery schools.'
One nursery headteacher in Glasgow has said that she is now the only qualified nursery teacher at her school, with total responsibility as curriculum leader on a day-to-day basis.
Mr Smith said, 'We will be seeking assurances from all political parties as to how they see the development of nursery education in the future. It is sad that while the Scottish Parliament has recognised the value of nursery education, this has not been carried through by commitments of the Scottish Executive or local authorities.'
Aileen Scullion, a member of the EIS national education committee, added, 'Academic evidence shows that the more qualified teachers you have in a setting, the better education children receive. The problem is that it costs more employing teachers than less qualified staff. There is absolutely no requirement on any local authority to employ teachers, so ultimately it could lead to the loss of the profession.'