To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with Fife Council following the publication of an Educational Institute of Scotland survey showing that two thirds of surveyed teachers in Fife were considering leaving teaching as a result of disruptive, challenging or violent pupils. (S6O-03959)

Our schools should be safe learning environments for all. Violence and abusive behaviour towards staff are unacceptable.

The member will be aware that the specific response to those findings is primarily a matter for Fife Council. However, my officials have raised the survey data with Fife Council directly, and I am advised that the council has been working constructively with the EIS locally to address the concerns.

The Government is committed to providing direction at a national level, too. In August, we published our national action plan on relationships and behaviour in schools, to which the EIS contributed. Yesterday, we launched updated guidance called “Respect for All”.

This week, I met EIS Fife and Unison Fife, which raised serious concerns about the lack of response and action. They highlighted the level of additional support needs in Fife that are not being addressed, and they said that more pupil support assistants and additional support teachers, as well as improved pupil support services, are needed. In many primary schools across Fife, class sizes are far too large. When will the cabinet secretary move beyond plans and guidance and start to look at what resources are needed to address the issues that trade unions are rightly highlighting?

I thank Mr Rowley for raising a really important point. He knows that, before I was elected in 2016, I was an employee of Fife Council, as a teacher, so I recognise some of the challenges.

I have details of the action that the local authority has committed to, which my officials have shared with me, and I would be more than happy to share that information with Mr Rowley. If he would like me to meet him and the EIS locally, I would be more than happy to engage with them on those issues.

Mr Rowley talked about resourcing challenges. It is worth putting on the record that the Government is spending record levels on additional support needs in this financial year and that we spent £926 million in the previous financial year alone. That has allowed local authorities, including Fife Council, to increase the number of pupil support assistants by 725 in the past year, and it is a key reason why the Government is so committed to protecting and maintaining teacher numbers. I must observe that, in the past year, Fife Council’s teacher numbers have reduced, despite that additionality coming from the Scottish Government.

We have to work with local authorities on improvements to Scottish education and on all the issues that Mr Rowley has raised, but I recognise that there are joint responsibilities in that regard. With the budget approaching, I am sure that Mr Rowley will be making some of those points in his negotiations with his party’s leadership. I would be more than happy to meet him to discuss what those improvements might be, recognising the need for the protection of education budgets. That has been the Government’s approach over many years.