As vacancies arise and new posts are created, nursery classes attached to schools in Falkirk are to be staffed by a senior early years officer, supported by a number of early years officers. There will be input from a teacher within the school for a time varying from one day to half a week, depending on the size of the class, to support the curriculum, planning, assessment, monitoring and staff development.
Under the new deal, nursery nurses and nursery officers working for Falkirk council have had their job titles changed to early years officers. A senior role previously only existed in local authority day nurseries and children's centres.
Aileen McLean, an education officer for Falkirk council, said the council had based the new structure for nursery classes on a pilot run in six primary schools over the past two years and evaluated by Stirling University. Under this, senior nursery nurses and nursery nurses took on the day-to-day running of the nursery class with input from a peripatetic teacher.
Ms McLean said, 'There are some very able nursery nurses and we think they have the potential to take on an enhanced role in the classroom.'
The council is currently recruiting for a number of new posts to start in August. The salary for a senior early years officer from 1 April this year is 19,632 to 21,732 pro rata.
Gray Allan, branch secretary for Falkirk Unison, said the grade for senior early years officers was part of the local pay and conditions settlement, although not in the original negotiations. 'The knock-on effect was that senior nursery nurses were re-graded,' he said.
Margaret Munro, acting senior early years officer and shop steward for Unison in Falkirk, said the local branch had campaigned for a pay and conditions deal for more than five years before the settlement was made at the end of February.
She added that she was pleased about the new role for senior nursery nurses in schools. 'Before, we were stuck at the top of our scale. We're delighted that there is a career structure now.'
But Ms Munro said she still believed in a national settlement for nursery nurses with the same job titles, job descriptions and salary scales. More than 2,000 nursery nurses in Scotland are still out on strike, and Unison has blamed the larger councils for prolonging the dispute with low pay offers.
Unison said that nursery nurses in more than 14 Scottish councils have settled for more than 10.10 an hour. Those in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Renfrewshire have rejected offers of 9.83 or less.
