| Councillors decided to allocate Friday, October 1, as the additional training day to help prepare for the Curriculum for Excellence, giving pupils a further day’s holiday to look forward to in the autumn.
But SNP councillor Liz Fordyce said today Dundee’s schools are already prepared and the authority is merely following a Scottish Government blanket policy that every school should be closed for another day.
“All 37 primary and secondary schools are ready to go with Curriculum for Excellence,” said Councillor Fordyce. “We don’t actually (need to give teachers any extra training in the curriculum) but the Government has asked us to request one, not for the sake of Dundee but for other parts of the country.”
Councillor Fordyce’s comments came just hours after the leader of the local authority defended the decision to allocate the extra day.
Parent representatives have previously slammed the decision to hold the training during term time as it means finding childcare.
However, Councillor Ken Guild maintained the extra in-service day would give schools the “best possible preparation” for the new curriculum. But he conceded it was a blanket decision from SNP-controlled Holyrood.
He said, “If the Government asks us to put in an extra day for in-service day training so that teachers have the best possible training we will go with that, but it does not reflect in any way on the state of preparation in Dundee.”
October 1 is the last day of term before the start of the autumn break and was chosen because it should minimise the disruption for parents in terms of childcare arrangements.
Councillor Guild rejected any suggestion an additional in-service day should have been scrapped in Dundee to ease the burden on parents.
“I don’t accept that. I think if the Government has suggested we use an extra in-service day then we will use that,” he added.
The Scottish Government’s Education Secretary Mike Russell decided to give teachers the extra day so they would have more time to develop their plans for learning and pupil assessment.
He said, “I agreed the extra day following advice from the Curriculum for Excellence Management Board, which includes the teacher unions and the Association of Directors of Education Scotland.”
A spokesperson for Perth and Kinross Council said, “We will be giving teachers the extra in-service day and are currently consulting head teachers about the best date to hold it on.”
Angus Council will also be introducing one extra in-service day. A date has yet to be fixed. |
