Rennie comments on primary school teacher training cut

Commenting on the report in the Scotsman newspaper that targets for training new primary school teachers could be slashed by up to a fifth in Scotland, with officials discussing a cut of between 10% and 20% over the next two years, Scottish Liberal Democrat education spokesperson Willie Rennie MSP said:

“The level of unemployment, short term contracts and underemployment among teachers, especially primary teachers, has been far too high. New teachers have been left on the scrap heap.

“This is because the government have failed to secure 3,500 extra teachers as they promised at the last election. The decision to cut the intake at ITEs (initial teacher education) is a sign of the government’s failure to deliver that recruitment.”