Labour Seeking to Keep Smaller Classes for S1 and S2 Maths and English Classes in all our Secondary Schools

Later today Labour Councillors will be proposing our alternative proposals at the Council's annual budget meeting. In Education, we are proposing to reinstate classes of twenty for English and Maths in the first two years in five secondary schools in the City where the SNP administration are proposing to withdraw these. They propose to introduce larger classes for Maths and English - up to a maximum of 33 - in Harris Academy, Menzieshill High School, St John's RC High School, Morgan Academy and Grove Academy.

It seems common sense that English and Maths are central to success in examinations at school and beyond. In Secondary school, competence in Maths and English is required in order to engage with the rest of the curriculum. So smaller class sizes in these subjects makes sense in S1 and S2. In fact the SNP ruling group of Councillors agree with this assessment because they are retaining smaller claszses for Maths and English in St Paul's RC Academy, Baldragon Academy, Craigie High School and Braeview Academy. If it's good for the pupils in those four Secondary schools, surely it will make a negative difference in the five secondary schools where it is being withdrawn.

In recent years Dundee pupils have performed much better in Maths and English in SQA examinations. Six years ago a quarter of pupils were ending their schools days without English and Maths at Foundation Level in Standard Grade. Steadily this figure has improved in all of our secondary schools and our overall performance is now above the national average and on a par with our comparator councils. If our amendment to the budget is not accepted, we run the risk, that improvements in the overall examination results in our schools are halted and start to slide backwards. I don't think parents and carers with children in the five secondary schools that will lose out will think this is wise. Why are their children subject to cutting corners in Maths and English lessons?

I think parents and carers and teachers will be very disappointed if the ruling group of SNP Councillors won't accept our amendment to their revenue budget. We have uncovered a pot of cash which they had overlooked. Money set aside for paying DEROL (the operators of the incinerator at Baldovie)  for ash from the incinerator when none has been produced since the major fire shut it down in May 2012. Furthermore, there is no definite date for the DEROL reopening in the new financial year. So there must be up to £600,000 available. 

Out of the ashes, let's put some of that money to work paying for smaller class sizes in English and Mathematics in all our secondary schools.

Issues Raised at Education Committee on Monday 28 January 2013

I made two comments and posed two questions at the Education Committee last Monday (28 January 2013) in the context of commenting on the sole agenda item: Education Department Standards and Quality:

Firstly, I said:
This report is an important report which I welcome. I am pleased that we have an opportunity to talk at the Education Committee about core issues such as the attainment of our pupils in examinations in S4-6.

There are some promising trends. I particularly appreciate the hard work of teachers and pupils to improve the proportion of pupils gaining a minimum of Standard Grade in English and Maths. The increase in passes from a level that was beneath the national average to level that is above the national average and our comparator authorities is a real achievement.

I think that we all appreciate that improvements like this are unlikely to come from a wee sprint in S3 and S4 but build on incremental changes in Nursery, Primary and Secondary schools over a number of years. After all, the results referred to in this report come after a pupil will have spent up to two years full or part time in a Nursery School, seven years in Primary School and between four and six years in one of our secondary schools.

Convener I would therefore like to recommend to you that we ask the Director in subsequent reports to include facts and figures we already collect about the performance of our pupils at earlier points than the end of secondary school. For example, for more than five years our primary pupils have been linked to the Durham University's Performance Indicators in Primary Schools (PIPs) tests on reading and writing in early, middle and upper primary.

Now I note that in the equivalent reports in other authorities in North East Scotland for example, Perth and Kinross and Angus, there are references to these wider measures which I would argue are milestones on the route to attainment at the end of our pupils' school days.

Convener, I have a motion on this but would hope you would agree that this is a constructive suggestion and one that we shouldn't need to divide about?

So shall we agree to take this forward for the Standards and Quality Report in 2014?"

The Convener accepted my proposal.

Secondly, I asked:
"Convener in the SNP manifesto you campaigned on in the local government elections last May your party wrote:
'Under the SNP, Dundee City Council will continue to deliver new schools, smaller class sizes, breakfast clubs in every school and after school clubs in every area of Dundee.' ....
'As every parent knows, smaller class sizes means more teacher time and better learning.' (Extracted from Re-Elect an SNP Council, Moving Dundee Forward)

Convener, will the improvements in attainment, that the Standards and Quality Report promises be helped or hindered by increases in class sizes in S1 and S2 Maths and English in five of the nine secondary schools in Dundee?"

The Convener did not address his answer to my question.

Call for Clarity About Which Secondary Schools in Dundee Will Have Larger English and Maths Classes in S1/S2

Last week, the SNP led Administration of the Council made a shock announcement about their cuts in staffing at our Schools. From August 2013 they have proposed to withdraw smaller classes in Maths and English in the first two years at five of the nine secondary schools in Dundee. These classes are currently capped at 20 and will, under these proposals, increase to a maximum of 33 pupils.

The Education Convener, Councillor Hunter justified this by saying that four secondary schools had less positive exam results and keeping the smaller classes for them would help improve their results. Presumably, by that line of reasoning, exam results in those schools where the smaller classes are being withdrawn will be undermined.

But so far the Education Convener has avoided spelling out which four secondary schools will retain their cash for these smaller Maths and English Classes in S1 and S2 and which will lose out. Parents and carers who have children moving from Primary to Secondary School this summer have a right and a need to know this now. They need to know because whether a secondary school will or will not have smaller classes in Maths and English is something that might sway their decision about which school to request for their child.

These parents and carers shouldn't be asked to wait for his announcement until after the Budget Meeting on Thursday 14 February, because they must finalise their parental choice for a secondary school by the Council's deadline. Placing requests must be submitted to the City Council by the first Monday in February which this year falls on Monday 4 February. 

Of course Councillor Hunter could have chosen to put this on the Agenda of the Education Committee called for Monday 28 January, but I notice that he has avoided doing this when I looked at the papers that have been issued. As Convener, he still has the opportunity to put this on as a late item and allow Senior Pupils, Parent Council Representatives and Teachers from our schools to have their say along with Councillors.

Like his predecessor, Councillor Fordyce, Councillor Hunter can try and hide the issues that are really important from the Education Committee but he must come clean and tell us where his axe is going to fall in Maths and English Classes. Parents and carers won't thank him from hiding this from them when they have to make their placing decisions over the next few days.

The nine Secondary Schools in Dundee are:

• Baldragon Academy
• Braeview Academy
• Craigie High School
• Grove Academy
• Harris Academy
• Menzieshill High School
• Morgan Academy
• St John's RC High School
• St Paul's RC Academy

SNP Education Cuts in Dundee Reveal Shocking Abandonment of Class Size Reductions in our Primary and Secondary Schools

In the latest round of Education Cuts in Dundee, the SNP Administration are proposing to remove smaller class sizes in Primary One classes where previously introduced in the City Primary Schools. This is an shameful abandonment of their local and national promises to voters to introduce a maximum class size of 18 in Primary 1-3 classes. This will be very disappointing for parents and carers whose children are coming up to P1 in the schools where this had been introduced. 

They are also proposing to abandon the universal provision of smaller class sizes - an average of twenty - for Maths and English in S1 and S2. In a divisive move, they are proposing to remove this from five of the nine secondary schools in Dundee apparently having regard to the Council's Fairness Strategy. This means that Maths and English classes in the five secondary schools can be will be as large as 33 pupils. This would represent a huge increase.

I think many parents will think this will be rough justice if this applies to their children in their Secondary School. I am sure there will be immediate demands in the city by parents, carers and teachers to know which schools this will apply to and what effect it will have on teaching and learning in Maths and English for children in those schools affected.

It seems that so many of Labour's steady improvements to the staffing levels in our schools are being carelessly removed by the SNP's successive cuts in Education in Dundee.

Although we were told in a report to Council earlier this week that, we had to to maintain teacher numbers, as part of the local government settlement between the Scottish Government and Councils, here we are again seeing further cuts in teacher numbers with up to thirty more front line teacher posts disappearing this year.