Music tuition cuts 'an attack on Scottish culture'
Plans to cut music tuition in Fife schools have been branded "an attack on Scottish culture" by the country's largest teaching union.
- By Claire Warrender
- Published in the Courier : 21.06.10
- Published online : 21.06.10 @ 06.20pm
EIS president Kay Barnett said Fife Council's proposals to halve the music service's budget would hit music, whether traditional, pop or from other cultures in Scotland.
Ms Barnett was speaking at a rally in Glenrothes on Saturday, when teachers and parents joined forces against the cuts that will see the budget for music tuition slashed by 25% from August and a further 25% from April.
While Fife Council has said it will do all it can to protect as much of the service as possible and is still investing £1.2 million in music tuition, the EIS claims that councils that sacrifice music tuition in search of savings would see pupils growing up without crucial skills and deprive them of confidence-building activities.
The union has been campaigning against the cuts and spokesman David Farmer said support was such there was standing room only at the rally at Rothes Halls.
"The council are trying to spin this by saying music is a peripheral service and isn't really central," he said.
"But the point that came from both Fife president Cathy Grant and national president Kay Barnett was that without it the only people who could take advantage of music tuition would be people who could afford to pay for it.
"Kay said cuts like this are an attack on Scottish culture."
Mr Farmer added, "The other point we are trying to make is that instructors prepare students for SQA exams in music.
"If the council was talking about taking away teachers preparing for Higher maths or Standard Grade English, people would be saying there's something the matter here.
"Music as a subject should not be any different from the so-called core subjects."
Difficult decisions
Fife Council last week said there would inevitably be difficult decisions to make during the budget process in February, but pledged they would not have a negative impact on pupils' learning.
However, the council is faced with a budget gap of nearly £120 million by 2014/15, and even if the education budget is frozen, by 2013/14 the £325 million available to the service would have fallen to £305 million due to inflation.
Education chiefs and teachers are currently taking part in open discussions with the public on how best to allocate funds, but education chairman Douglas Chapman warned that councils across Scotland faced a very difficult financial future and Fife was no different.
"There is a council-wide programme of improvements and efficiencies being put in place to deal with a projected budget reduction of around £120 million over the next four years," he said.
"Over the past three budgets under this administration, the education service has been protected from any major savings and indeed the overall education budget has risen.
"However, given the current economic situation nationally, we need to think very differently if the needs of our future generations are to be met."
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