Dumfries and Galloway teachers claim lack of staff making it "impossible" to properly educate kids

Gatehouse Primary teacher Julie Irving says many teachers have limited resources and are too busy struggling to manage pupil behaviour rather than teach – which is then having a knock-on effect on attainment levels

Teachers insist that it is becoming “impossible” to properly educate youngsters in Dumfries and Galloway classrooms due to a lack of staff.

Julie Irving claims that many teachers have limited resources and are too busy struggling to manage pupil behaviour rather than teach – which is then having a knock-on effect on attainment levels.

In an emotional speech at Dumfries and Galloway Council’s education committee last week, Mrs Irving called for an increase in learning assistants which would result in teachers being given the support they desperately need in the classroom.

She said: “We don’t have enough staff to help us support these children displaying these distressed behaviours.”

The allocation of learning assistants to schools across the region is a controversial topic, with headteachers across Dumfries and Galloway continually arguing that they need more classroom assistants.

This is due to more pupils with additional support needs and an increase in disruptive behaviour in classrooms.

Education chiefs have been wrestling with this issue for years due to limited funding while trying to allocate fairly to schools.

Ms Irving, who teaches at Gatehouse Primary School, is also a member of the council’s education committee.

And at its latest meeting she gave councillors an insight into the difficulties teachers are facing – and how this is directly impacting attainment.

She said: “You may have the situation in a full class of 33 pupils – where we know it’s about 10 percent of pupils with additional needs.

“You may have two or three children – if you’re lucky – who are displaying stressed behaviour. You may have one support assistant.

“Generally what happens is that if one child is distressed, depending on the needs of the rest of the class, other children then become distressed.

“You have two adults in that room. Thirty-three children, and three or four children displaying distressed behaviour.

“It’s impossible to teach in that situation.”

She continued: “I’m speaking from personal experience, but I’ve also had a lot of teachers contact me since the start of term saying they are struggling to teach because all we are doing is managing stressed behaviour. We’re doing the best we can with the resources we have.

“But those resources are limited. We don’t have enough staff to help us support these children displaying these distressed behaviours.

“It’s not the child’s fault they’re displaying distressed behaviours. As teachers, we want to help them and get them an education, enjoying our classrooms and learning.

“But their behaviour has a knock-on impact on how we can teach, on when we can teach, on what we can teach – and therefore attainment.”

Annandale North Councillor Carolyne Wilson said: “As a parent, and member of the parent council, I’m aware of the challenges facing our schools.

“Can I just thank Julie for highlighting what is going on in the classroom. It is absolutely important that we hear from her – as this is information we don’t get in our reports.

“I’d ask her to continue bringing these issues to committee because we do need to start getting it right for every child.”

An assessment of each school is carried out by education chiefs and a total number of learning asssitant support hours is allocated, which the headteacher then deploys across the school.

The learning assistant allocation process for 2024/25 has provided just under 12,000 hours a week to pupils with additional support for learning needs across Dumfries and Galloway.

However, 53 (71 percent) of headteachers complained about their allocation.

Of these, 42 were resolved through review and negotiation, and 11 were progressed to a review panel.

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