An improved teacher pay deal is essential to resolve recruitment woes around Scotland, education secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville has been told.
Ms Somerville faced a grilling over teacher pay this afternoon when she was asked to provide MSPs with an update on pay negotiations.
She said that talks were “ongoing” but expressed her disappointment that the EIS, Scotland’s biggest teaching union, did not put the most recent pay offer to its members.
It amounted to 6 per cent for 2022-23, still well short of the 10 per cent the EIS has been campaigning for, followed by 5.5 per cent for 2023-24. With that offer now rejected, various rounds of strikes are scheduled to go ahead, including national action on Tuesday 28 February and Wednesday 1 March.
Labour MSP Katy Clark told Ms Somerville that EIS surveys had “exposed the extent to which many teachers no longer find the job rewarding”.
She added: “Some teachers report they’re using food banks, working second jobs and considering leaving the profession for supermarket roles paying just 50p an hour less.”
‘Urgent need’ for real-terms teacher pay increase
Ms Clark challenged the education secretary to “accept that there is no sustainable plan for teacher retention and that there is an urgent need for a real-terms [pay] increase”.
Teacher pay was discussed after a “topical question” from Liberal Democrat education spokesperson Willie Rennie became a late addition to today’s parliamentary business.
He said that the government’s relationship with the EIS was “deteriorating”, and highlighted the union’s concerns that details of the most recent pay offer were reported in the media before they could be shared by the EIS.
Ms Somerville said it was “deeply disappointing” that details emerged through the media, adding that “I don’t think that helps anybody that it came into the public domain in the way that it did”. She stressed, however, that information about the teacher pay offer was hard to keep under wraps at a point when many local authority leaders were aware of it.
The education secretary added: “I continue to urge the unions to suspend industrial action while [pay] talks are ongoing.”
She said it was “very disappointing that the EIS has rejected the latest pay offer without consulting their members”.
After Ms Somerville fielded questions on teacher pay, deputy first minister John Swinney made a significant announcement. As he sought to finalise the 2023-24 Budget, he announced that there would be an extra £100 million to help councils ensure a suitable pay offer is given to local authority non-teaching staff.
Meanwhile, in an “open letter to pupils”, released late this afternoon, Ms Somerville wrote: “I want to reassure pupils, parents and carers that my focus remains on resolving this pay dispute, delivering a fair and sustainable settlement for teachers and ending disruption in our schools.
“The threat of further disruption in the run-up to the exam diet is particularly concerning. I have written to local authorities asking them to consider how secondary schools can remain open for pupils preparing for exams, and this is being reviewed by councils on a school-by-school basis.
“Pay talks are continuing and I would, again, appeal to trades unions to suspend industrial action while these discussions are ongoing.”
