Achi news desk-
He urged the government to reverse recent cash cuts to the college sector budget, saying that jeopardizing colleges would disproportionately affect the most vulnerable in society.
“These cuts to further education funding will mean cuts to student places, and they will be cuts to student places for the most marginalized in society.
“For some of those students, it will mean the difference between engaging with the education system or being driven to social withdrawal and isolation at home.
“For still others, it will mean the difference between engaging with the education system or engaging with the criminal justice system.
“Further education colleges provide huge community benefits. They are part of our social infrastructure and our economic future.”
Arguing for his proposal, Mr Leonard added that colleges provide opportunities that do not exist anywhere else in the education system.
“Too often, our education is based on the assumption that if you don’t succeed at first, you don’t succeed. People deserve a second chance, and that’s what further education and training is all about.”
SNP MSP Fulton MacGregor said a contraction in the college sector will have economic consequences.
“This spiral of decline is most tragic because our industries are crying out for these skills.”
Conservative MP Graham Simpson said lecturers deserved fair play, but the pay dispute was a symptom of a wider financial crisis in the sector.
He referred to The Herald’s recent investigation into Scottish colleges, and the funding gap of £500 million in the college sector over the past three years.
“I heard that the Scottish Funding Council kept a list of the colleges that were in the most dire financial condition,” he added, referring to previous SFC reports of four colleges facing “significant cash flow problems.
The SFC has refused to name these colleges, even after the names were made through multiple Freedom of Information requests.
“The fact that they exist should be a badge of shame for the minister and his many predecessors.”
He referred to a recent news report about colleges cutting courses, considering changes to the curriculum and undertaking sweeping financial reviews that put courses and student services at risk. These courses should get more credit and more support, he said.
“Universities get more attention and more funding, but you could argue that colleges and their course have more value.”
Read more: What happened when we looked into the college sector?
MSP Pam Duncan-Glancy, Labour’s shadow cabinet secretary for education, called colleges the “engines of our future” and said they represented Scotland’s best chance of achieving the goals set out in The Promise.
“Not only are they key to widening access, but they are also the embodiment of it.”
He also referred to recent statistics reported in The Herald that significant proportions of college students come from the most disadvantaged postcodes, that more than a quarter of all college credits are awarded to disabled students, and that almost 10% of credits go to ethnic minority students. backgrounds.
Green MSP Ross Greer said it was a “clear example of class inequality” that college industrial action has been paid for so long, with far less political and media attention than is usually given to similar disputes in schools or universities.
LAB’s Colin Smyth said that constant budget cuts by the Green and SNP Government had contributed to the current funding concerns for colleges and industry shortages.
“Every week, I speak to local businesses about the labor skills and shortages they face.
“But at the same time, I speak to my local colleges who tell me that they are having to get rid of apprenticeship places, get rid of courses, make staff redundant because of the brutal cuts to college budgets year after year, on after a year, which was voted for by Green. and Members of the Scottish Parliament.”
Read more: Skills shortages could put net zero at risk, but colleges have a solution
He called on new Prime Minister John Swinney to end the cycle of disruption and help get lecturers and students back into the classroom.
In response to the proposal, Minister Graeme Dey said he was asking the government to find money from elsewhere in the education budget to fund the EIS-FELA salary claim.
“The government is not in a financial position to [meet trade union demands.]”
Read more: Efforts to reform national college bargaining at risk
He also referred to an independent report which suggested that Scottish Government intervention has not been helpful in previous disputes.
The government-commissioned “Lessons Learned” report by Strathesk, published in 2022, suggested that a reformed national bargaining system to resolve disputes would not require government intervention and emergency funding.
However, government intervention has resolved multiple disputes over the past 10 years and the report also notes that “resources (financial and support) from the Scottish Government are likely to be required” to implement the report’s proposed reforms to national bargaining.
He reiterated the government’s position that it is the responsibility of employers and trade unions to negotiate a settlement.
“Our intervention would fundamentally change the nature of the voluntary national bargaining process.”
He suggested that employers meet on Tuesday to agree a revised three-year proposal to be presented to trade unions at the next Joint National Negotiating Committee for colleges.
