Scotland’s biggest teaching union has called on the Scottish government and councils to take note of developments in England on teacher pay and to start addressing “the significant erosion” of salaries north of the border.
This week the new Labour government accepted the recommendations of the independent School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB) in England, meaning that all teachers south of the border will receive a 5.5 per cent rise from September.
Teachers in Scotland were due to receive a pay uplift from tomorrow, but failure to reach a deal means that this date will now be missed.
A pay claim for 6.5 per cent was submitted by Scottish teaching unions in January but no counter-offer came until June, and this was unanimously rejected.
The offer of 2 per cent from August 2024, followed by a further 1 per cent in May next year, was described as “unsatisfactory” and falling “far short of expectations” by the teachers’ side of the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers.
Pressure for teacher pay deal
Now, responding to the teacher pay deal in England, Andrea Bradley, general secretary of the EIS teaching union, has highlighted that the offer put forward for Scottish teachers in June is “significantly below the 5.5 per cent”.
She welcomed the rise for colleagues south of the border, saying it would start to address “the significant erosion of their pay as a result of the austerity impacts”.
However, Ms Bradley highlighted that “teachers’ salaries in Scotland have also suffered” and called for the Scottish government and local authorities’ body Cosla to “commit to meaningful negotiations” and make an offer “that begins to address the unacceptable erosion” - and properly reflects “the value of teachers”.
She said: “Teachers in Scotland, Scottish education and the young people who benefit from it need and deserve the Scottish government and employers to take a similarly positive step to the UK government in the direction of full pay restoration for all teachers north of the border.”
Following a previous teacher pay deal in Scotland, new salary scales came into effect from January 2024.
A Scottish government spokesperson said: “The Scottish government values the hard work of our teaching workforce, which is why our classroom teachers are the highest paid in the UK.
“The current pay deal is the most generous for teachers in over 20 years and has resulted in a cumulative pay increase of over 30 per cent for the majority of teachers since January 2018.”
The spokesperson added: “While it is only [local authorities body] Cosla who can make a formal pay offer to teaching unions as the employer, ministers will continue to engage with all parties through the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers to ensure that we come to a fair resolution.”
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