George Foulkes

Scottish Government Breaks Key Manifesto Promise on Education
Sat 11th Apr 2009

Holyrood's opposition MSP's highlighted again the Scottish Governments failings to keep key manifesto promises as teacher numbers nose-dive in spite of their 2007 pledge to “maintain teacher numbers in the face of falling school rolls to cut class sizes”. As we approach the second anniversary of a minority government, the report card on education is, in the words of opposition leader Iain Gray, “a disaster”.  There are 1000 fewer teachers in Scotland now than when the current Scottish Government took office, undermining improvements made and reversing the trend set by Labour, who increased teacher numbers by 2000 in four years. In spite Alex...

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Foulkes FOI reveals plight of Edinburgh Teachers
Thu 15th Jan 2009

Lothians MSP George Foulkes today published the findings of a FOI exposing the chaos at the heart of the Scottish Governments education policy. Figures released by Edinburgh City Council to the MSP demonstrates a 36% increase in the number of teachers applying for supply work. 852 people are currently registered for work in Edinburgh, however that work is extremely scarce due to the cuts imposed by the council which have reduced all primary school budgets by £10,000 and secondary school budgets by £50,000. The Council are also currently proposing a further 2% school budget cut for 2009/10. One probationary teacher, wished...

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