Councils will be warned by Scotland’s largest teaching union that strike action could follow if teacher numbers are cut.
Later this week teachers gathering for the annual general meeting of Scotland’s biggest teaching union will be asked to back an emergency motion hitting out at Glasgow City Council’s plans to cut 450 teacher posts over the next three years.
The motion, which is likely to be carried, will also result in a warning being issued to local authorities umbrella body Cosla that any moves to replicate the cuts in the other 31 councils “will be met with a robust response, up to and including the declaration of disputes and industrial action”.
The news of the emergency motion to be put to the EIS AGM - which runs for three days and gets underway in Dundee on Thursday - follows the opening of an EIS ballot to gauge Glasgow teachers’ willingness to take industrial action over the council’s planned cuts.
Apparent change in government stance
It also comes in the wake of an apparent softening of the Scottish government’s stance on protecting teacher numbers.
Education secretary Jenny Gilruth said recently she would “fervently defend” the government’s policy to protect teacher numbers. However, last week she wrote to councils saying failure to hit teacher number targets would not result in the “totality” of £145.5 million of government funding for that purpose being withheld - she said “mitigating factors” would also be taken into account if teacher numbers fell.
In total, this year’s EIS AGM will debate 69 motions and one emergency motion.
Other key issues include violence and behaviour in schools; the under-resourcing of additional support for learning; excessive teacher workload; the lack of progress reducing class contact time; and the reversing of real-terms cuts in teacher pay.
Delegates will discuss whether a national database should be created to record incidents of abuse towards staff and whether more robust policies are needed to protect teachers from online abuse, including the use of artificial intelligence to create deepfakes as a form of harassment of staff.
Scottish education ‘facing many challenges’
EIS general secretary Andrea Bradley said Scottish education was “facing many challenges at the present time”, and that the AGM would shape EIS priorities for the year ahead.
“The EIS AGM will shine a light on all the key issues facing our schools, colleges and universities, and act as a powerful mouthpiece for Scottish education, its learners and its teaching professionals,” said Ms Bradley.
The AGM will also feature the launch of the EIS education manifesto for the general election, as well as the publication of a major independent report on teacher workload.
The AGM had been due to include a keynote speech and Q&A with education secretary Jenny Gilruth but that has now been cancelled, with the Scottish government citing purdah regulations related to the UK general election.
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