Glasgow City Council bosses urged to avoid further cuts to education

Glasgow City Council bosses are being urged to avoid future cuts to education services that might impact the youngest and most disadvantaged members of the community.

During a recent finance and scrutiny committee meeting conservative councillor John Daly highlighted the importance of Blairvadach Outdoor Centre for children who don’t get to go on holiday with their families because of financial difficulties. Councillor Daly asked for guarantees that the most disadvantaged children and young people don’t suffer as a result of any unforeseen cuts to the education service which might impact on their learning.

It comes as councillors were presented a paper on how raising attainment among Glasgow’s children and young people would help tackle the cost of living long term. Councillor Daly said: “It is the younger and perhaps most disadvantaged of our communities that perhaps suffer the most. It is interesting that in most recent statistics those sorts of children are suffering the most.

“What I think is particularly important is the Blairvadach Outdoor Centre. In the report it mentions that some of our youngest and poorest children do not get holidays and do not get the chance to associate with others, learn and build skills so hopefully it won’t be seen as low-hanging fruit if any future cuts are to be looked for. Can we give any sort of guarantee in future that the cuts that have come so far will not affect the excellent work that the director and school staff do to make sure that our youngest and poorest of learners continue to thrive and learn as well as they can.”

Councillor Daly was thanked by officers for recognising the “great work” that goes on in schools across the city. The executive director of education services said: “In terms of the curriculum for excellence, data suggested that it was the youngest and the poorest who were most negatively impacted by the pandemic. In terms of future cuts down the line … we will try to do the best we can with what we have. We will deal with what we have to down the line but for now it is a positive story.”