Teachers hit out at South Ayrshire Council

Jul 3 2009 by Stuart Wilson

TEMPORARY school teachers say their morale is at rock bottom.

And they blame South Ayrshire Council for failing to meet the needs of children.

Fed-up staff, who work on temporary contracts, claim they’re being shunted from pillar to post.

“I barely have time to learn names in a class before I’m told to leave and go to another school,” said one teacher.

Now they say council chiefs are failing to use common sense when allocating staff to schools.

Harry Garland, the council’s executive director, has faced strong criticism over the issue on his internet blog.

One PE teacher questions the Curriculum for Excellence methods which send her to different schools for the new term – when she could have stayed put.

She says: “This is utter madness. The staff all suffer, I have to suffer, but most of all, the children have to suffer.

“Should you not be bending over backwards to ensure the best interests of the children are met?

“This will be the third year in a row that these children will have received a different PE teacher and no doubt next year it will be someone else.

“I want to work there, the staff want me to work there, the children want me to work there and the parents want me to work there.

“Here is a chance to actually provide continuity and it is not happening.”

The argument surrounds temporary teaching staff who say there’s a growing feeling of discontent at the way the council is treating them.

Another teacher told us: “Morale has hit rock bottom.

“The council don’t worry about individuals – it’s just names on a bit of paper to them.

“It takes a long time to gain the trust of a child and get the best out of them, but as teachers we’re being shunted from pillar to post and it’s totally demoralising.

“Every summer we wait for our letter saying they’re sending us somewhere else – but it doesn’t have to be like this.

“It’s possible to keep people in the places they’re working at the moment and make life easier for everyone.”

Brian McInroy, head of service and school management for South Ayrshire Council, said: “It would be inappropriate to discuss the contracts of individual teachers, however in general terms our peripatetic teachers make a very valuable contribution to our schools and the education of our pupils.

“Specific teachers are employed, as part of their peripatetic contract, to deliver services in their specialist field to several schools.

“Schools themselves provide funding for this specialised support. Many schools request this support each year and the authority tries to be fair in allocating the limited time.

“It has been a long-standing practice to utilise peripatetic teachers within our schools and this has received support from the teachers unions.”