A “culture of fear” is preventing teachers in Scotland from raising concerns about their profession, according to Conservative leader Ruth Davidson.
First minister Nicola Sturgeon subsequently warned local authority employers that they should not block teachers from voicing such concerns.
Ms Davidson used her slot in First Minister’s Questions this afternoon to highlight an anonymous open letter from a teacher, who said a colleague had been threatened with disciplinary action by their manager if they went ahead with a meeting that had been arranged with education secretary John Swinney.
Ms Davidson said there was “a culture of fear and secrecy” among teachers in Scotland, and that the threat of “repercussions for their careers” discouraged them to speak out. There was a “failure to listen to people in the frontline”, she said.
She said the country needed “a government that asks teachers to tell it what is happening, not one that forces them to keep their mouths shut”.
Ms Sturgeon invited any teachers or other public sector workers to “come and tell the government how you feel about your job and public services, whether that is good or bad”, and said: “Openness and transparency is hugely important.”
The first minister added: “Let me be clear to teachers that they can come and raise anything they want with the government.
“And let me be very clear to every single local authority, of every party administration across the country, that it is unacceptable to say to any teacher that they will be disciplined for doing so.”
The open letter to Mr Swinney from “a Scottish teacher” has been shared widely online, highlighting concerns over a raft of issues in the country’s schools, including pay - an issue also in the news this afternoon - and workload.
The primary teacher says they are an SNP supporter, but felt compelled to write about “why so many teachers currently want to leave our profession”.
The writer has “felt a growing sense of concern over the last three or four years that the job I love is becoming increasingly impossible to do effectively, for various reasons”, including pay and the “drastically underfunded” inclusion policy.
The letter adds: “One of the most concerning and frustrating issues with the state of the education system is the inability to be able to speak out about the problems we face.”
