Larry Flanagan, the general secretary of Scotland’s largest teaching union, the EIS, has announced that he will stand down from his post in the summer after 10 years in the role.
Mr Flanagan, a teacher of English who has been in the role since 2012, formally submitted his letter of resignation today.
It also emerged this morning that, because he had retained his status as a registered teacher through regular teaching stints in schools, he might even return to the classroom as a supply teacher.
In an interview with Tes Scotland in May last year, Mr Flanagan said that “education is an occupation where you can make a difference and I’ve always found it very rewarding”.
He said that if he were education secretary, he would “employ more teachers, reduce class sizes and ensure there is adequate support for children with additional needs”.
In the afternoon, he said, he would “sort out the qualifications system”.
Announcing his resignation today, Mr Flanagan said: “It has been an honour to serve Scotland’s teaching professionals and Scottish education as the general secretary of the EIS for the past 10 years. I have sought to bring my 33 years of experience as a classroom teacher to the fore in my role as general secretary and I remain deeply convinced about the strength of our education system and the quality and professionalism of our education workforce.
“The past two years in particular, during the Covid pandemic, have been especially difficult for everyone involved in Scottish education, bringing many unexpected and unprecedented challenges for the EIS and for Scotland’s teachers and lecturers, but I believe we have responded well to those challenges.”
Mr Flanagan served on the Covid Education Recovery Group (CERG) during this time.
The EIS has consistently made the case for increasing teacher numbers - especially in response to the pandemic - and also reducing the time Scottish teachers spend in front of classes.
Ahead of the Scottish Parliament elections in May last year, the SNP promised to recruit 3,500 more teachers and classroom assistants and to reduce class contact time by 1.5 hours per week. In December, education secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said she hoped to have the reduction in place by the start of the 2022-23 school year.
But there is anger over teacher pay as well as the government’s determination to push ahead with exams this year, given the continued disruption caused by the pandemic.
The EIS has advised its members to accept the 2.23 per cent increase being offered by councils, along with a one-off payment of £100, with the proviso that it will campaign for a 10 per cent pay rise in 2022-23.
Whether teachers are willing to accept the deal will be revealed next week.
In 2019 the Scottish teaching unions succeeded in securing a 13.51 per cent rise over three years for teachers.
The deal followed more than 12 months of negotiations.
Mr Flanagan is the current president of the European Trade Union Committee for Education (ETUCE), the European region of Education International (the global teacher union federation), and will continue in this role upon his retiral as EIS general secretary
EIS president Heather Hughes said: “Larry Flanagan has been a great servant to the EIS, Scotland’s teaching professionals and Scottish education throughout his career. He will be a great loss to the [union] and will be a very hard act to follow for his successor as general secretary. I wish to convey my personal thanks to Larry, and those of Scotland’s teachers, for all that he has done for the EIS over the years. We wish him all the very best for the future.”
The process of recruiting the EIS’s next general secretary has begun, with the intention of appointing a “general secretary-designate” to shadow Mr Flanagan during his final months in the post.
