MORE than 40 staff have been told they are facing redundancy after a shake-up of the way vulnerable youngsters are educated.

The £700,000 project will see three groups of secondary schools in Ryedale, Scarborough and Whitby take on greater responsibility for pupils who are likely to be excluded from school.

They will also work with persistent truants and youngsters who have difficulty finding a school place.

The schools will work together to invest the money in different teaching methods with the aim of intervening earlier to prevent behaviour problems from developing.

It is a response to the Government's drive to have all secondary schools working as part of a group to improve the management of pupil behaviour by September 2007.

The schools will also take direct responsibility for children who are too ill to attend school and who, for a period, are educated at home.

At present, the youngsters are dealt with at a pupil referral unit in Scarborough.

It will continue to provide for some pupils on a reduced scale and also work with the groups of schools.

But 41 tutors and non-teaching staff have been told that they could be made redundant by North Yorkshire County Council.

Councillor John Watson, executive member for schools, said: "The county council has promised to work with the schools concerned to keep the number of redundancies to a minimum with as many tutors as possible being provided with alternative employment. This is a serious and challenging initiative which should be welcomed by everyone.

"It's a positive development to improve the life chances of some groups of young people who are at risk of under achieving or exclusion, without harming the education prospects of other children.

"With the additional funding to schools goes increased responsibility.

"The county council will rigorously monitor developments to ensure that this investment delivers a better outcome for everyone concerned.

"The parents of children currently receiving their education out of school, and the children and young people themselves, can be reassured that, where it is necessary to make changes, this will be carefully planned with them."