Only five people have been employed in the role of “lead teacher” since it came into being in 2021, despite promises from the Scottish government that it would lead to a “huge increase” in career opportunities for teachers.
The figure has been described by secondary school leaders as “disappointing” as it means an opportunity to “empower schools” is being missed. A teaching union, meanwhile, is sceptical even about the figure of five and believes there may actually be no lead teachers at all.
The lead teacher role was intended to provide promotion routes for teachers who wanted to further their careers without moving into school management. That resulted in comparisons being drawn with the Chartered Teacher Scheme, scrapped in 2012, which was designed to provide progression for teachers who stayed in the classroom.
Many teachers took the chartered teacher route, despite its numerous perceived shortcomings, after it was established following the 2001 teachers’ agreement.
Lead teachers, however, remain few in number, as shown in this week’s Schools in Scotland 2022: summary statistics report, which contains this paragraph: ”A new role of lead teacher was established in June 2021 by the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers. There were five [full-time equivalent] lead teachers that met the inclusion criteria at the time of this year’s school staff census in September.”
Jim Thewliss, general secretary of School Leaders Scotland, said he was “not surprised” by the figure as he was aware that “very few appointments had been made”.
It was “disappointing” news as lead teachers provided “an opportunity to build on identified good practice to develop professional capacity at school level”. Mr Thewliss described the role as a “clear opportunity to empower schools which so far has failed to materialise”.
Seamus Searson, general secretary of the Scottish Secondary Teachers’ Association (SSTA), said today that his union was “not too sure” if the five people recorded in this week’s data are ”‘real’ lead teachers” as described by the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers (SNCT).
“We have sought information from employers as to the job descriptions and so on - none was forthcoming,” he said. “However, when we did find one, it was described as a lead teacher in a preschool with management responsibilities. We have heard of one employed in a local authority, which was similar to a quality improvement officer post, but we did not receive any detail to confirm this.
“We are convinced there are none, and it is likely there won’t be until Scottish government fund the posts directly.”
A teacher later tweeted in response to this article to say that, since August, there had been six lead teachers employed in his local authority alone.
Mr Searson added: “Employers don’t like the notion of a lead teacher as there is nothing in it for them.” He compared it to the promise of giving teachers 90 minutes more contact time a week: an idea popular with teachers in principle, but which has seen little progress since being announced.
He feared that the idea of lead teachers would end up “on a shelf gathering dust”.
The report that called for the creation of the lead teacher post was published by the Scottish government in 2019, in response to concerns about a lack of opportunities for teachers to advance their careers. There were concerns that this was making the profession unattractive and contributing to teacher shortages.
John Swinney, education secretary at the time, said the lead teacher role would “represent a huge increase in the breadth of opportunities a teaching career offers”.
It had been envisaged that lead teachers could specialise in specific subject or curricular areas as well as in literacy, numeracy, health and wellbeing, classroom practice, student or probationer support, early years and raising attainment.
With teachers at the top of the pay scale earning £41,412, it was anticipated that lead teachers could work at school, local authority or regional or national level, and command a salary of £47,013, £59,850 or £66,780 respectively.
However, the idea of lead teachers ran into trouble even before it got going. In June 2021, Mr Searson said it could in theory boost teacher retention, but in practice, he was less optimistic: “The role has been stifled and watered down all the way through the process by local authorities who have an eye on the budget.”
Today, a Scottish government spokesperson said: “Lead teacher roles were agreed by the SNCT, including the Scottish government and [local authorities’ body] Cosla, in August 2021. They are designed to provide progression opportunities for teachers, empowering those with the passion, drive and expertise to contribute to future education policy.
“Ultimately, the recruitment of teachers is a matter for local authorities. They are responsible for using available resources to provide a complement of staff, which meets the needs of each of their schools and its pupils based on local needs and priorities.”
