Glasgow council to hire 100 more teachers to help children with additional needs

An extra 100 teachers will be hired in Glasgow after the council received an additional £7.6m.

The city’s education boss said the new staff will help children with additional support needs and boost inclusion.

Director Douglas Hutchison described this year as challenging but said the city will be in a better position to meet pupil’s additional support need next year thanks to the recruitment drive.

Describing additional support needs as an “area of pressure,” he said most of the new teachers would focus on providing nurturing learning, supporting children who find it difficult to fit into the traditional classroom environment.

Hutchison said: “It is great to have that additional investment of around £7.6m and with that we are able to employ an additional 100 teachers.

“73 of those teachers will be focused on inclusion and nurture. We already had around 69 teachers who ran nurture bases at schools.”

He told yesterday’s education, skills and early years city policy committee that combining the current 69 teachers with the incoming staff will mean “there is greater provision across the city to meet additional support needs and deal with issues around nurture and meeting children’s needs, particularly in primary.”

He added: “I think next year we will be in a better position to meet a range of additional support needs across the city and I’m particularly pleased about that.”

He continued: “It has been a challenging year for everybody this year, but I think next year with that additional investment, it will be interesting to see how that impacts attainment and outcomes.”

Hutchison commented after SNP councillor Norman MacLeod asked for a highlight that the education department could celebrate as a “hurrah.”

The discussion arose as councillors were presented with the city’s education annual business plan for 2025 to 2026.