Funding increase for Scottish colleges

Posted 20 Apr 2009

Further education colleges in Scotland are to receive more money next year in a move that could create more availability of TEFL courses.

The Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council (SFC) is to invest £572 million in Scotland’s 43 colleges in 2009-10, representing an increase of £14 million on last year’s funding.

According to the organisation, the funding will help colleges to provide the support and services to students facing challenging economic times during the current recession.

"Scotland’s colleges are already responding strongly to the economic downturn and we recognise the work they are doing through initiatives such as Pace, where they can respond very quickly to help people facing unemployment," Mark Batho, chief executive of the SFC, told the BBC.

Some of the funding could help to provide teacher training courses and offer those considering learning how to teach English as a foreign language the opportunity to undertake a TEFL course.

It was revealed earlier this year that the number of teachers in Scotland’s publicly-funded schools dropped by almost 1,000 between 2007 and 2008.

Category: Teaching and Learning