Teachers were not given the reassurances they were hoping for this afternoon over the promised extra 90 minutes of weekly non-contact time, as education secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville faced a grilling at the EIS teaching union’s annual general meeting.
There was sustained applause from the floor when, after a speech short on new information, Ms Somerville took questions from four EIS delegates.
Enthusiastic applause greeted Glasgow delegate Alison Beattie, who told Ms Somerville that teachers wanted a guarantee that the 90 minutes of additional non-contact time would be for teachers’ preparation and planning. South Lanarkshire delegate Andy Harvey had already earned a noisy round of applause earlier in the day, when he said that increased non-contact time must not be used for “pointless after-school meetings”.
Ms Somerville would not, however, offer any guarantee over how the time would be used. She said that local authorities would have their own views on how the non-contact time should be used, and they deserved to be heard, too.
“I would simply say that, if we are going to have such a large change in class-contact time, I think it’s right that the employers - and the Scottish government - have a discussion with teachers about that class-contact time before a final decision is made on that,” she said.
“I think that is a reasonable thing and for [local authorities’ body] Cosla...to be asking for.”
She added: “I would very much like to see progress on the implementation phase, but I think it is fair to have a discussion about that class-contact time and how that can best be used to support our children and young people.”
That prompted an audible rumbling of disapproval from the floor and a pointed response from EIS president Heather Hughes, who was chairing the question-and-answer session.
“You can tell by the strength of feeling in the room that that’s not our opinion on that,” she said, adding that “we are the experts” and teachers already knew how best to use the time - which prompted thunderous applause.
Ms Somerville said that the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers (SNCT) - which comprises unions and local and national government - was examining the increased non-contact time policy and that she was hoping for an announcement “very soon”.
Earlier this week, it emerged that strike action could be on the cards if the reduced contact-time policy stalls and is not in place in schools by August 2023. In a Tes Scotland long read in May, most of our interviewees indicated that August 2024 seemed a more plausible date.
Late last year Ms Somerville had suggested that August 2022 was a feasible start date. After her speech today, Tes Scotland asked her if the shifting target dates showed that the policy had not been fully thought through when it emerged in April 2021.
Ms Somerville told Tes Scotland that the government had thought August 2022 would have been possible in some areas and that it had been looking at a phased introduction of the policy, but that it became clear from subsequent discussions with SNCT partners that they did not want to pursue such an approach.
