The first minister has said there is “no reason” why Scottish teachers should be struggling to get permanent posts after coming under attack in Parliament today over the “thousands and thousands” of teachers “on casual, short-term and zero-hours contracts”.
At First Minister’s Questions, Nicola Sturgeon urged councils to “give teachers permanent jobs because we are going to need more teachers in our schools for a long time to come as we continue the work of improving education for all”.
Ms Sturgeon made her comments after Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie said that the number of Scottish teachers on casual or short-term contracts had “mushroomed” in recent years and accused her of presiding over “the casualisation of the teaching workforce”.
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He said that these new teachers had been attracted into the profession “by government adverts” and had “dreamed of nurturing young minds” but that some, even after six years in the profession, had yet to secure permanent employment. He said he had met a teacher working in a supermarket “to make ends meet” and another teacher who was working in a café.
Covid: Call to guarantee teachers a job
He called on the first minister to guarantee these teachers a job “to help with the education recovery”.
There are thousands of teachers on short-term and zero-hour contracts, says @scotlibdems @willie_rennie. When will FM give them certainty?
FM @NicolaSturgeon says funding has been made to local authorities for recruitment.
Live #FMQs updates ➡https://t.co/xFsKNsHgB9 pic.twitter.com/U6IQElIqhz
- BBC Scotland News (@BBCScotlandNews) March 18, 2021
In response, Ms Sturgeon said that the government did not employ teachers, but rather that it supplied “the funding for local authorities to employ teachers”. She said almost five years of pupil equity funding had been made available to schools “to support the employment of teachers” and, as a result of the pandemic, she said an additional 1,400 teachers and more than 200 support staff had been employed.
She added that in January the government had announced £45 million of new funding for education’s recovery from Covid disruption.
Ms Sturgeon said: “We have a higher number of teachers in our classrooms now than at any time since 2008. That is because we are providing the funding to local authorities to employ more teachers.
“I encourage local authorities to give teachers permanent jobs because we are going to need more teachers in our schools for a long time to come as we continue the work of improving education for all.”
Scottish teaching unions have raised concerns about the treatment of supply teachers during the coronavirus pandemic, and, in particular, during periods of remote learning.
In February, the EIS union warned that some supply teachers were facing “significant financial hardship” and were being forced out of the profession despite “a very clear need” for additional teaching staff to support pupils. EIS general secretary Larry Flanagan said that despite statements from the Scottish government that all available teachers must be deployed to support education recovery, the reality on the ground was quite different and many supply teachers were out of work.
Last year education secretary John Swinney guaranteed all newly-qualified teachers a year of employment. However, the move sparked anger from recently qualified teachers, who said he had turned his back on them and was leaving them without posts or income.
