provide the best student experience possible. “Te vision is to be the university of choice
in Scotland and the university of choice internationally.” But achieving these goals against a backdrop
of cuts will be no small challenge. And the impact of the financial squeeze is already being witnessed at the university. It has just announced 17 compulsory redundancies at its Institute of Aquaculture – a move the University College Union warns threatens the future of Scotland’s only aquaculture centre. McCormac insists, however, that there are no present plans to shut the facility. “We see aquaculture as a really important
component of the offering that we have and of the science base that we have, so it’s about right sizing it to deal with the downturn in the economy rather than getting rid of it. So we have no [such] intentions at the moment.” Te principal cannot guarantee, however,
that there will not be further job cuts down the line; that will depend on the resource that is available. McCormac remains positive about Stirling’s
ability – and the sector’s ability – to maintain its current quality. But it can only do that if the funding gap emerging between Scottish and English universities is closed – a gap sized by Universities Scotland at £200m. Tis will
From the chalk face: a teacher writes
Let me look into my crystal ball . . .
The Cabinet Secretary for Education announced an independent review into all aspects of the McCrone Agreement for teachers of 2001, called the Review of Teacher Employment in Scotland. It will be chaired by Professor Gerry McCormac of Stirling University, with a remit to “review and make recommendations designed to secure improved educational outcomes for our children and young people.” He has called on interested organisations to respond by 21 April.
COSLA It’s about time this happened. Teachers are bleeding the local authority budget dry and we need the money to fund our councillors’ important projects. Jack McConnell panicked in 2001 and caved in to their demands. They only teach for 22 hours a week anyway out of 35 hours. Look at their holidays and pensions – they know they are on to a good thing. Show me the improvements in Scottish education in the last ten years – we are doing no better than we did before. They need to be brought to heel and we’re the boys to do it. How many incompetent teachers do you kick out each year – few. About time we had a pay freeze. We don’t need teachers in classrooms all the time – bring in others on lower salaries for PE and PSE and stuff. We could save a fortune and we need to because governments have passed legislations without increasing the funding for it.
Teaching unions You guys in COSLA are suffering collective amnesia. The McCrone settlement has brought ten years of peace to industrial relations in schools after perennial reviews since the 1970s to let salaries catch up with the private sector. Extra-curricular activities are
inevitably involve a graduate contribution, he argues. “Tat funding gap is serious and real. And
when you’re sharing the same landmass and students are mobile within that and staff are mobile – very readily and easily – within that, and you resource one section of it preferentially through fees vis-à-vis another section, there’s going to be a consequence. “And I fear the consequence for Scottish higher education is the very strong position that we currently have, both in terms of the perception of the educational provision, but also in terms of the reality, will suffer.” In searching for solutions to plug the gap,
however, some would argue that principals should look closer to home. Amidst warnings of redundancies and course cuts last year, Scottish principals were awarded pay increases of up to 7 per cent. An influential group of academics from Glasgow University has now called for a cap on salaries of senior officials while Stirling’s own Professor of Lifelong Learning, John Field has suggested that those earning over £100,000 should take a voluntary pay cut. So is the new principal minded to take his advice? “In effect I’ve taken something like a 12 per
cent pay cut from what my predecessor had when I came here. And that was very much
in recognition of the times that we’re in. My salary is £192,000 now and I will not be taking any pay increase and indeed the entire senior management of this university for two years now has not taken any pay increase at all because we recognise the difficulties. “People can say – and I suppose John Field
has said – ‘You should take a pay cut’. Well, in effect, I did that… But my career, I was earning £15,000 at one point in it and I have worked for 30 years and I’m now paid the going rate for vice chancellors. So that’s the reality of it. And these are full-on jobs.” But McCormac’s name is probably now
better known for his role in leading a review of the 2001 McCrone Agreement. In January the principal was asked by the Education Secretary to take on the heady task and dutifully obliged. With teachers’ pay and conditions promising to be one of the big political issues of the next Parliament, McCormac has a sensitive job on his hands. But the scientist’s sense of calm remains. His overriding objective, he says, is improving outcomes for pupils. And with a strong team behind him, he is confident that can be achieved. Scottish education, at all levels, has much
to be proud of, McCormac believes. Te strategic decisions taken now must preserve that quality for the future.
thriving again and you’ll lose this if you get heavy-handed. You are dealing with graduates who don’t have to enter teaching, especially in secondary, and you can’t provide jobs for NQTs as it is. You are entering a demographic timebomb where loads of experienced teachers will retire at the same time. McCrone has allowed you to push forward Curriculum for Excellence on minimal resources on a demanding schedule. Society is disintegrating in parts of the country with schools the glue that holds things together. Scottish teachers teach more hours than nearly any other country, and the remaining time does not cover marking, preparation and administration tasks. The way you are sabre-rattling, you clearly don’t value what we deliver to our communities and to the country.
Newly qualified teacher I’m coming near the end of my probationary year and I’ve really enjoyed working with the pupils. But I’m not going to stay in teaching. I’m working way beyond my 35 hours and I’m just tired all the time. My authority is making changes to the promoted structure. Opportunities to be promoted are going to be diminished even if lots of people leave. I don’t feel that parents and pupils value the quality of education we give them and the headteacher says that class sizes are just going to be at maximum everywhere. Teaching Higher English to 30 pupils is ridiculous yet people seem to be more concerned about classes of 20 in P1-3. A pay freeze, more teaching time, constant development work for CfE, pension rises, no promotion – teaching is becoming less attractive by the week.
Parent Parents here are really concerned about cuts in the education budget in schools. John’s really enjoying school just now and he has so many opportunities to succeed. We need a highly educated workforce – there are no unskilled jobs now. I remember industrial action when I was at school and we lost out. I don’t want that again for him.
28 March 2011 Holyrood 37
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