A formal dispute could begin over the promised reduction in teachers’ class-contact time if there is no sign of the policy being kickstarted in tomorrow’s Scottish Budget.
The Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers (SNCT) issued a statement late this afternoon warning that unless a “very clear plan” emerges on how to make the policy happen, teachers’ patience will run out.
The 2021 SNP manifesto for that year’s Scottish Parliament election promised that teachers’ weekly class-contact time would be reduced by 90 minutes a week, from 22.5 to 21 hours.
Yesterday the teachers’ panel of the SNCT met to “consider the lack of progress” on the commitment.
Cutting teachers’ class-contact time
“Class-contact time for Scottish teachers remains unacceptably high when compared to other countries’ education systems, and is a contributing factor in the intolerable levels of workload being experienced at all levels in the profession,” the SNCT panel stated.
As well as not delivering its contact-time policy, the Scottish government has also failed on its related promise to recruit 3,500 extra teachers, the SNCT teachers’ panel said.
“The effects of this failure are being experienced daily by teachers across Scotland, with those in work finding workload pressures unsustainable, and thousands of qualified teachers struggling to secure permanent employment,” it stated.
In November education secretary Jenny Gilruth tried to allay concerns at the School Leaders Scotland (SLS) annual conference in Aberdeen that the contact-time policy would be prohibitively expensive and that there were not enough teachers for it to become a reality.
“We do have enough primary teachers to move on non-contact time,” insisted Ms Gilruth, who added that some authorities, such as Fife, were ready across both primary and secondary.
She told SLS delegates that she was “very focused on how we can reduce class contact before 2026”, when the next Scottish Parliament election is due to take place.
Today, however, the SNCT teachers’ panel said that “repeated attempts” to “push for progress” had “met with delay and obfuscation, a situation that cannot be tolerated any longer”.
Unanimous backing to move towards formal dispute
It has “unanimously resolved that in the event of there being no indication of the plan for the swift implementation of the class-contact time commitment within the terms of the Scottish government’s budget-setting process this week, a formal dispute will be declared through the SNCT”.
Des Morris, chair of the teachers’ side of the SNCT, said that teachers had shown “enormous patience” on the promises to reduce contact time and recruit 3,500 more teachers.
He added: “This week’s Scottish Budget must lay out a very clear plan as to how these commitments will be delivered - Scotland’s teachers, pupils, parents and carers, and indeed the whole Scottish electorate, have the right to expect the government to keep the promises it makes to them.”
A Scottish government spokesperson said: “The cabinet secretary wholeheartedly agrees with the views of the teaching panel in relation to the urgent need for the roll out of reduced class contact.
“The teaching panel will know this is ultimately a matter which will require agreement from the whole SNCT - including, crucially, local government. The cabinet secretary is keen to set out a timeline for implementation with urgency, particularly given the need for the profession to have the time required to engage with reform.”
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