Scotland’s largest teaching union has told the United Nations (UN) high-level panel on the teaching profession that Scottish teachers are overworked and underpaid - with salaries lagging behind other less female-dominated careers.
The EIS has told the panel - set up to investigate the “persistent global teacher shortage” - that Scottish teachers are grappling with “excessive” workloads, which are pushing them “into poorer health” and becoming “a key source of stress”. The panel is due to report at the end of next month.
In a written submission to the panel - shared with Tes Scotland - the union also says underinvestment in additional support for learning and in core funding means teachers have to deal with “rising levels and complexity of additional support needs |(ASN)” in large classes.
At the same time, the number of specialist ASN teachers and support staff are decreasing.
The submission highlights: a 70 per cent reduction in the number of primary teachers with a general ASN role between 2008 and 2022; a 78 per cent reduction in the number of primary teachers in a behaviour support role between 2008 and 2022; and a 43.5 per cent decline in the number of primary learning support teachers between 2008 and 2022.
It also highlights the overall drop in teacher numbers across Scotland last year.
In the submission of evidence, the EIS calls for the government to deliver on its commitment to reduce class contact time by 90 minutes a week, to 21 hours from the current 22.5 hours. However, it also says it must take this further.
Cap on teaching hours
The union calls for the time teachers spend in front of classes to be capped at 20 hours per week, and for class sizes to be capped at 20 pupils, “if teachers are to have meaningful time to engage in quality relationships with the pupils, plan and prepare”.
High-quality education is seen by the UN as key to achieving sustainable development, protecting human rights and sustaining peace, but it says “teachers - the single most influential variable in achieving learning outcomes - are under considerable strain”.
The high-level panel - announced in June by the UN general secretary António Guterres - will therefore make recommendations to ensure that “every learner has a professionally trained, qualified and well-supported teacher”.
The EIS has given oral and written evidence to the panel.
‘Scotland needs to invest more in education’
EIS general secretary Andrea Bradley said: “The EIS has been standing up for quality education in our dialogue with the UN. That’s how serious we are about education.
“The evidence that we gave to the UN is exactly the same advice as we’ve been giving to the Scottish government for quite some time now. Scotland needs to invest more in education.
“Spending big on education in the here and now makes sense because it means we spend much less on fixing the damage done by not spending enough on education later.”
Addressing the SNP conference on Sunday, education secretary Jenny Gilruth said Scottish schools had more teachers per pupil than anywhere else in the UK; the highest spending per pupil in the UK; and the best-paid teacher in the UK.
A Scottish government spokeswoman also said the government had invested an additional £145.5 million this year to protect increased teacher numbers and was ”committed to working with the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers (SNCT) on progressing the commitment to reducing class contact time”.
She added: “Spending on additional support for learning reached a record high of £830 million in the most recently published figures. Ministers will also work with teachers to provide additional professional learning opportunities while seeking work to build on the Additional Support for Learning Action Plan.”
The international comparison of education systems published by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development - Education at a Glance - has repeatedly shown that Scottish teachers top the league tables for time spent in front of classes.
Even if the government’s promise to reduce contact time is realised, Scottish teachers will still spend more time in front of classes, on average, than their European counterparts.
