The council said it was addressing problems at the school

The authority runs the residential unit at Kerelaw, in Stevenston, Ayrshire.

A report from the Care Commission and the Education Inspectorate said its 48 youths were offered a limited number of subjects and found low staff morale.

The inspectors criticised the council for failing to implement improvements demanded three years ago.

Kerelaw caters for teenagers with social, emotional and behavioural difficulties.

The inspectors' report found that teachers had limited interaction with pupils and gave them simple written tasks which required little thought to complete.

Inspectors had demanded improvements at the unit

However, they levelled their most severe criticism at the local authority for failing to carry out improvements which were demanded in the last inspection report.

In particular, the report said no principal teachers had been appointed.

Glasgow City Council said it accepted the criticisms in the report.

Depute director of education George Gardner said: "We have now put in place some improvements and there is still a significant amount of work to be done.

"Indeed there is a joint action plan from the council in taking forward the areas we feel need to be further progressed."

Funding call

However, the council pointed out that the inspection was carried out last November and said most of the problems highlighted then had been rectified.

Meanwhile, an education union has called on the Scottish Executive to provide more resources to help vulnerable youngsters.

Willie Hart, from the Educational Institute of Scotland, said: "We can't just have Kerelaw as some sort of backwater - we need resources, we need well trained teachers.