Teaching unions will ballot their members over industrial action after the Easter break unless “a demonstrable step forward is made in addressing the unfair and unsustainable levels of workload for Scotland’s teachers”.
The teachers’ panel of the tripartite Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers (SNCT) - which sets terms and conditions for teachers - has written to first minister John Swinney calling for progress on the SNP pledge to cut class-contact time by 90 minutes a week.
The unions that make up the teachers’ panel say they have shown “immense patience” but are issuing the warning because of the “complete lack of progress”.
They also take issue with councils’ umbrella body Cosla for “equivocating” over how the non-contact time would be used - if and when it is delivered - and claim they are being “shut out of negotiations”.
Pressure to cut teacher workload
The unions say they have been excluded from a working group focused on implementing the pledge in a move that “fundamentally undermines the constitution of the SNCT, its commitment to collegiality and the collective bargaining arrangements that have existed for Scotland’s teachers for over two decades”.
The letter from SNCT joint chair Des Morris warns that if the issues raised cannot be resolved “then it is highly likely” that unions in the SNCT teachers’ panel “will ballot for industrial action following the Easter break”.
The SNP committed to cutting teacher class-contact time by 90 minutes a week in its 2021 Scottish Parliament election manifesto.
But progress on delivering the pledge has been described as “glacial” by the teaching unions and in February a formal dispute was declared.
Seamus Searson, general secretary of the Scottish Secondary Teachers’ Association, told Tes Scotland that “teachers are on their knees” and that the reduction in workload promised via the contact-time pledge was “urgently required if we wish to stop the exodus of teachers from the classroom”.
He said: “To add to the frustration a working group has been established that deliberately excludes the teacher unions, and we can only assume this is a mechanism to further delay any progress.”
‘Meaningful progress’ promised
In an exclusive interview with Tes Scotland published yesterday to mark two years as education secretary, Jenny Gilruth said that she wanted to make “meaningful progress” on reducing class-contact time by the 2026 Scottish Parliament election - but could not give a definition of what she meant by “meaningful”.
She said that “scoping work” was underway to deliver the reduction, with senior government and local authority officials working on “scenario planning”.
However, in his letter to Mr Swinney, Mr Morris argues that the “remit of this group goes far beyond the ‘scoping work’”.
He says that in reality two sides of the SNCT - the government and councils - are “engaged in negotiation of matters relating to the terms and conditions of teachers, but with teacher trade unions excluded from the group”.
There is also disagreement over how the extra non-contact time should be used by teachers, with unions arguing that it should go entirely towards preparation and correction - and not more towards “collegiate” activities, as has been suggested by school leaders.
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