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Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S2W-02248

Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 August 2003
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 24 September 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive how many principal teachers have been employed in each local authority area in each of the last five years and what projections have been made for the employment of such teachers.

The following table gives thehistoric information requested. The teacher workforce planning exercise which iscarried out annually does not include projections of specific grades of teacher.

Number of PrincipalTeachers (Headcount) by Local Authority

	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002
Scotland	7,140	7,198	7,182	7,221	7,162
Aberdeen City	310	310	304	304	292
Aberdeenshire	388	392	387	398	404
Angus	168	165	166	166	165
Argyll and Bute	137	139	139	137	140
Clackmannanshire	66	66	66	68	63
Dumfries and Galloway	271	266	266	264	256
Dundee City	216	216	222	218	217
East Ayrshire	175	171	171	170	166
East Dunbartonshire	179	181	180	178	180
East Lothian	113	113	115	120	121
East Renfrewshire	138	139	139	140	139
Edinburgh, City of	450	448	450	462	469
Eilean Siar	47	47	50	50	47
Falkirk	174	173	174	172	172
Fife	422	440	446	456	453
Glasgow City	638	664	667	662	639
Highland	347	345	351	350	346
Inverclyde	146	144	140	144	141
Midlothian	122	127	125	127	121
Moray	181	180	180	183	182
North Ayrshire	192	195	177	194	197
North Lanarkshire	502	507	499	498	502
Orkney Islands	36	35	35	36	39
Perth and Kinross	180	181	182	179	179
Renfrewshire	253	255	256	253	238
Scottish Borders	167	169	172	173	170
Shetland Islands	37	35	36	36	37
South Ayrshire	175	177	175	175	174
South Lanarkshire	408	412	406	409	407
Stirling	138	135	135	133	130
West Dunbartonshire	138	147	146	139	148
West Lothian	226	224	225	227	228

Source: annual school censuses.

Question reference: S2W-02245

Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 August 2003
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 24 September 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive whether schools are able to offer additional payments to teachers for taking supported learning and homework classes after the timetabled school day.

Question reference: S2W-02253

Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 August 2003
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 24 September 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive what research has been, and will be, carried out into the effects of supported study or homework classes.

In June 2001 the Department forEducation and Skills published a report entitled The Impact of Study Supportcontaining the findings of a longitudinal study carried out by the Quality of EducationCentre at the University of Strathclyde. Four schools in Scotland were involved in the researchwhich found firm evidence in all the schools studied that pupils who participatein study support do better than would have been expected from baseline measuresin academic attainment, attitudes to school and attendance at school.

Arrangements are currently beingmade for an evaluation of the impact of the Executive’s Study Support programme.

Question reference: S2W-02250

Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 August 2003
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 24 September 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of pupils in mainstream education are taking prescribed medication to control or modify their behaviour.

Question reference: S2W-02244

Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 August 2003
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 24 September 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive what impact the McCrone agreement has had on the ability of schools to offer supported study and homework classes after the timetabled school day.

The teachers’ agreement ATeaching Profession for the 21st Century introduced a 35-hour working week,which will be combined with a class contact time restricted to a maximum of 22.5hours per week by August 2006. The use of the remaining time is subject to agreementat school level, including activities such as additional time for preparation andcorrection, parent meetings, curriculum development and additional supervised pupilactivity. This can include supported study programmes and homework classes.

Question reference: S2W-02257

Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 August 2003
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 24 September 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made on the implementation of accreditation for prior learning under the McCrone agreement.

Good progress has been madeon making provision for the accreditation of prior learning (APL) as part of the Chartered Teacher programme. The Scottish Executive recently sent to allregistered teachers a leaflet describing the Chartered Teacher programme andthe accreditation of prior learning (APL). All teachers taking a CharteredTeacher programme are required to complete module 1 of the programme. Onsuccessful completion of module 1, the teacher can choose between one of twoAPL routes.

The first route will be handled by providers as part of their programme designed to meet the standard for Chartered Teacher and will allow a teacher to claim up to a maximum of 50% of the Standard by APL.
The second route will be handled by the General Teaching Council for Scotland and will allow teachers to make a 100% claim against the standard by APL.

Alternatively the teachercan choose to complete the whole programme.

Question reference: S2W-02247

Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 August 2003
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 24 September 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive how it ensures that principal teachers have the experience and knowledge to carry out quality assurance and monitor effective teaching and learning in each subject area for which they are responsible.

We have recently published, andare in the process of issuing to all teachers, a document Continuing ProfessionalDevelopment for Educational Leaders which forms part of the National Frameworkfor Continuing Professional Development. The document was prepared in collaborationwith teachers, local authorities, academics and other stakeholders. The purposeof the document is to provide teachers, schools and local authorities with a frameworkto assist the development of leadership and management skills in the teaching workforce.It will be for the teachers and their line managers to ensure that they have accessto appropriate continuing professional development opportunities at the most appropriatestage of their career that allows them to expand their skills and knowledge includingquality assurance.

Question reference: S2W-02251

Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 August 2003
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 24 September 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive what measures were put in place to support students and probationary teachers when the post of senior teacher was abolished.

Question reference: S2W-02254

Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 August 2003
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 24 September 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive how many principal teacher posts have been merged as a result of the implementation of the McCrone agreement.

Question reference: S2W-02249

Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 August 2003
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 24 September 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive how many principal teachers of guidance have been employed in each local authority area in each of the last five years and what projections have been made for the employment of such teachers.

Information on the number ofprincipal teachers of guidance employed by local authorities for the last fiveyears is not held centrally. Incomplete data is available from the last teachercensus in 1998 and that is set out in the following table. The teacherworkforce planning exercise only projects requirements for the total number ofteachers required and no projection has been made regarding the numbers ofprincipal teachers of guidance.

Number of Principal Teachers of Guidance, 1998 Secondary SchoolCensus

The Census ofSecondary Teachers had a 94% Response Rate)

Aberdeen City	15
Aberdeenshire	11
Angus	5
Argyll and Bute	4
Clackmannanshire	4
Dumfries and Galloway	3
Dundee City	6
East Ayrshire	5
East Dunbartonshire	4
East Lothian	3
East Renfrewshire	3
Edinburgh, City of	32
Eilean Siar	-
Falkirk	-
Fife	6
Glasgow City	10
Highland	-
Inverclyde	4
Midlothian	-
Moray	6
North Ayrshire	5
North Lanarkshire	9
Orkney Islands	-
Perth and Kinross	2
Renfrewshire	3
Scottish Borders	-
Shetland Islands	-
South Ayrshire	4
South Lanarkshire	6
Stirling	2
West Dunbartonshire	3
West Lothian	6