Cutting teachers’ class-contact time and recruiting more people into teaching will be the main ways of easing the pressure on the profession, first minister Nicola Sturgeon said this afternoon.
She also used the final First Minister’s Questions of 2021 to praise teachers for the “vital” role they have played during the Covid pandemic.
Ms Sturgeon was responding to SNP MSP and former secondary teacher Christine Grahame, who asked what the Scottish government would do about an EIS union survey of 16,000 teachers in which more than half said their wellbeing was poor or very poor.
Also this week:
Ms Sturgeon said: “First of all, let me acknowledge the dedication of teachers across the country, and in particular, at this time, acknowledge the exceptional efforts in helping make sure that young people and children have been supported through this challenging time.
“We take the health and wellbeing of teachers very seriously. While local authorities have a key role to play in supporting staff - because teachers are employed by local authorities - in the past year, the Scottish government has invested over £2 million in teacher wellbeing with a package of support developed with the [Covid] Education Recovery Group.”
Fears about teacher wellbeing
She added: “The government has also committed to reducing class-contact time by 90 minutes per week to give teachers more time to plan and to ease their overall workload. And of course, we continue to make good progress on recruitment with teacher numbers increasing this year for the sixth year in a row.
“And I’m pleased to say that the ratio of pupils to teachers is now at its lowest level since 2009.”
Ms Grahame followed up her initial question by asking whether - given the government’s determination to keep schools open despite the Omicron variant and to run national exams in the spring for the first time since before Covid in 2019 - more support might be given to teachers.
In response, the first minister said: “Yes, we will continue to do everything we can to support teachers as we try to get education back to normal.”
Ms Sturgeon repeated the government’s message that it is a “priority to keep schools open, not to have further disruption to children’s education”.
She added: “But I recognise how difficult this is for teachers. Our main way of supporting teachers right now is to recruit more of them into classrooms, and, as I said earlier on, to reduce class-contact time so that the overall workload is eased.
“But I think Christine Grahame raises a really important point and allows me to recognise again just how vital the contribution of teachers has been over the course of the pandemic.”
Earlier this month it emerged that the government plan to reduce teachers’ class-contact time by 90 minutes a week should be implemented from August 2022.
Teaching unions have been calling for school buildings to stay shut for longer after Christmas to ensure greater protection for school staff. They have raised concerns about the demands being placed on teachers if the government continues to insist that school buildings remaining open is a priority.
Last Friday, for example, new Covid guidance for education contained details of the controversial plan to allow an exemption from self-isolation for some staff in “vital public services”, including teachers. That idea was strongly opposed by teaching unions.
