As the city makes deep cuts into support staff provision, Phil Chetwynd asks what is Edinburgh playing at?
Edinburgh is currently facing deep cuts in education spending. £8.2.million is to be slashed from the education budget in 2025, with potential cuts of over £40 million projected over the next two years. One of the most alarming consequences of the cuts is the major reduction in staff support for pupils requiring extra help. At a time when demand is soaring for special education provision for Edinburgh’s youngsters, the City of Edinburgh Council appears hell bent on cutting provision for this very vulnerable group. Teachers in the capital are warning that cuts to the education budget could slash the number of staff who assist children such as those with autism, dyslexia, mental health problems, and learning difficulties as well as those whose first language is not English.
The council’s proposals are causing consternation among parents’ groups and care leaders alike. Education bosses recently admitted that insufficient consultation had taken place with parents. The Scottish Children’s Services Coalition (SCSC), an alliance of leading providers of specialist care and education to vulnerable young people, said they were “deeply concerned” by the council’s decision. Any further axing of already “overstretched and under-resourced” staff supporting the most vulnerable pupils “will prove absolutely devastating,” they said.
In Edinburgh, the number of pupils with ASN (Assessed Special Needs) almost trebled between 2013 and 2023. Estimates suggest that around half of all pupils in the capital now have an ASN. Reasons for the increase in the number of pupils with ASN include better identification and continued improvements in recording those with ASN. Additionally, growing levels of poverty, rising levels of poor mental health, and social, emotional and behavioural issues have also contributed to this escalation.
As the number of pupils with ASN has risen, staff numbers have dropped. Whereas council chiefs recently suggested to the staff whose jobs may be impacted by the cuts that there would be “no job losses”, one teacher, who contacted the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) on behalf of a group of colleagues, said the plans involved the well-worn tactic of not renewing temporary contracts. This would affect a third of all staff in the service, it was claimed, representing “at least” 40 employees. One teacher explained:
“We are already a depleted service and none of the temporary contracts are going to be renewed or extended so we’re going to have less staff. I don’t think schools have any idea how many people are on temporary contracts in the additional support for learning service. You’re going to have a third less staff to manage the increasing numbers with kids”
It is clear that mainstream pupils will face reduced teaching time given the need to support those with ASN, putting even more pressure on teachers and support staff.
Edinburgh Education Convener Joan Griffiths has tried to ‘sell’ the reorganisation as an “exciting phase of development”. But she added there was “no escaping” the fact that a lack of funding from the Scottish Government “means that our officers have to provide elected members with the least worst options in terms of setting the inclusion budget in the medium term”.
Independent city councillor Ross McKenzie said he had spoken to teachers whose posts were being proposed for ‘deletion’. (As council employees, these teachers are unable to speak out for themselves.) Cllr McKenzie said:
“They will leave, their posts won’t get filled, and that’s it, the cut is made and the teacher is lost to the service, perhaps to the profession. This looks like an underhand attempt to avoid scrutiny while delivering education cuts. Formal consultation on these proposals went to staff and unions without being reported to councillors.”
Commenting on the cuts, the EIS has pointed out the wider societal context. “The more you spend on education, the more you save in terms of long-term health and social services costs, in terms of criminal justice costs and in terms of the very social fabric of our communities: quality education is the best antidote to the virus of the far-right and further cuts to our budgets will simply dilute that antidote in years to come.”
EIS also pointed out that Edinburgh’s teachers are currently subsidising the City to the tune of more than £57m a year in unpaid additional labour. Independent research commissioned by the EIS and undertaken by academics from University of the West of Scotland, Birmingham City University, and Cardiff Metropolitan University has revealed that Scotland’s teachers are working an average of 11 hours above their contracted 35 hours.
Why so much overtime? For EIS, the answer is simple: it’s because of all the other cuts which have been imposed on Scottish Education since 2008 but that no one ever really talks about or remembers. When specialist support staff and services were cut, their work did not vanish but simply got dumped onto classroom teachers.
It is to the detriment of Edinburgh’s kids that the CEC is cutting off its nose to spite its face. Further problems are down the line for a Council that adopts such a short-sighted strategy. With further cuts ahead, the future looks bleaker for children and families in Edinburgh, especially for the increasing numbers assessed as having additional support needs. Teachers and parents alike deserve better given the stresses that ASL children and families experience in Scotland today.
Phil Chetwynd is an erstwhile clinical psychologist who took up photography when he retired some 25 years ago. He is a member of the Network of Photographers for Palestine.