Money saved on striking teachers’ wages will be used to provide Easter holiday study support for Perth and Kinross children about to sit exams.
Teachers are not paid for the days they are out on strike as they campaign for better pay, and schools across Scotland have been closed several times since the industrial action began in November.
Those in Perthshire North have been hit even harder, as Deputy First Minister John Swinney’s constituency is one of five being targeted with six extra days of action.
Perth and Kinross Council is to use some of the money saved on its salary bill to keep secondary schools open during the holidays to help young people whose National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher exams begin in just over seven weeks.
As it set its budget on Wednesday, SNP-led Perth and Kinross Council agreed a “significant” £281,000 learning support package.
The money will be used to:
- Keep all Perth and Kinross Council secondary schools open during the two-week April holiday to provide study support for S4 to S6 pupils
- Provide activity clubs during this year’s summer, October and Christmas and next year’s Easter holidays
- Increase investment in the virtual learning campus to complement in-person learning and allow greater curriculum choice for pupils
Councillor John Rebbeck, convener of the council’s learning and families committee, said: “It is entirely appropriate that any savings the council make as an indirect consequence of teachers’ strikes are re-invested in children and families.
“We are also aware of the angst many parents of pupils, and indeed, the pupils themselves have.
“They will be facing important exams in the Spring and it is vital we support extra study through the Easter holidays.”
Parents of pupils at Perth’s Bertha Park High School – one of the schools closed for six extra days in the targeted action last week and next week – are among those worried about the loss of teaching time.
The stress of missing these crucial pre-exam school days is having a big impact on the mental health of our teenagers.”
Lindsay Galloway, Bertha Park High School Parent Angle
In a letter urging Mr Swinney to help resolve the dispute, the schools’ Parent Angle group chair Lindsay Galloway said the action was having a “catastrophic impact” on children’s lives.
She said: “Those due to sit SQA exams will be at a disadvantage compared to their peers in other schools, and the stress of missing these crucial pre-exam school days is having a big impact on the mental health of our teenagers.”
Some teachers, she claimed, had told pupils that poorer than anticipated prelim results were likely to be due in part to not having enough teaching days to cover the required curriculum.
Conversation