Trainee primary teachers 'lack' basic literacy and numeracy skills

The committee was taking evidence from the trainees as part of its inquiry into workforce planning in schools.

One student teacher said only one week of his university course had been given over to literacy while another described a lack of focus on ensuring teachers have the skills to teach numeracy.

Halla Price, who is in her final year of a BEd at Edinburgh University’s Moray House School of Education, said: “I think that literacy, what we got taught in first year, the fundamentals of reading and writing, was very valuable.

“What we were taught then was just reiterated. In terms of numeracy, we spent a lot of time going over ideas of activities we could do.

“However, there wasn’t enough focus on the teachers themselves having the skills to teach numeracy other than a maths audit we completed ourselves in second year, which did very little in all honesty to improve our own knowledge and mathematical understanding.

“I do not believe that everyone graduating from Moray House this year has the sufficient skills in numeracy to be able to teach it to 11-year-olds at a reasonable standard.”

William MacLeod, who is studying a postgraduate course to become a secondary technology teacher, said the problem at his university was that there was only a single week where students would focus on literacy.

He said: “I think literacy I would have less of an issue with, because literacy is being worked on throughout when we are doing essays.

“I would have more of an issue with numeracy because there is less chance for the university lecturers to see that we are numerate. Going back to the basics on these would be helpful.”

The comments follow the publication of new figures on literacy in schools which show a decline in writing standards.

The Scottish Survey of Literacy and Numeracy (SSLN) looked at performance in school years P4, P7 and S2, focusing on literacy in 2016.

It found 49 per cent of S2 pupils performed “very well” or “well” in writing last year, compared with 55 per cent in 2014 and 64 per cent in 2012. P4 and P7 pupils also saw a drop in performance.

The survey focused on numeracy in 2015 and found a drop in performance among P4 pupils, with 66 per cent performing well, compared with 69 per cent in 2013 and 76 per cent in 2011.

The committee’s evidence session came after almost 700 trainees, teachers and other school staff responded to its questionnaire seeking their experiences on recruitment and retention, with issues such as workload, stress levels and morale raised in the responses.

Teachers later told the committee about their day-to-day experiences in the classroom - with several insisting the demands of the profession made it unlikely they would be able to stay in the job until reaching the retirement age of 67.

Isabel Marshall is leaving teaching after 33 years having spent the last 12 working as a primary school headteacher.

“I have thoroughly loved my career but I have resigned and I leave in six weeks. I have loved it, but I am utterly exhausted,” she said.

Another teacher, Angela Kelly, said she and her colleagues felt “what is being asked of us is no longer sustainable”.

She said: “It’s overwhelming and I feel many staff are feeling like they’re juggling, and trying to prioritise is becoming more and more difficult because there are so many high priorities, and you don’t know which one to tackle first or which one can be left for a few days.”

Linda Robertson, who became a teacher after working in industry, told MSPs: “I have never worked so hard. I can’t imagine working to 67 at that level.

“Some days you can’t even go to the toilet or have lunch. That’s why you can’t keep teachers.”

A spokesman for Edinburgh University said: “All of our programmes are accredited. This includes approval of the number of hours of study devoted to the teaching of literacy and numeracy. 

"Student literacy and numeracy is assessed in individual courses throughout each programme to appropriate levels."