Teachers in Scotland are being forced to take on more workload as a result of local authorities allowing support staff numbers to fall, a teaching union has warned.
The Scottish Secondary Teachers’ Association (SSTA) is concerned that “stealth cuts” are leaving teachers with the burden of extra responsibilities that take them “further and further away from teaching and learning”.
The union is advising members only to take on tasks that “require the skills and expertise of a teacher”.
The SSTA has voiced its concerns as the long wait continues for the Scottish government to act on its promise to reduce class-contact time by 90 minutes a week, designed to ease the burden on teachers.
Its comments come after another teaching union, the EIS, told the United Nations that Scottish teachers are overworked and underpaid.
Teachers’ rising workload
SSTA general secretary Seamus Searson said: “Many local authorities have embarked upon a campaign of education cuts by removing education support staff in schools or not replacing them when they leave. This leaves an additional burden upon the teachers in schools, who are expected to cover the work of the staff who are no longer there.
“Education support staff were appointed for essential educational purposes, so to remove this vital support by stealth is to fail the children and classroom teachers.”
The SSTA is also concerned about reports that local authorities are “delaying or refusing to employ supply teachers to cover gaps left when teachers have moved to another post, go on maternity leave, and to cover sick teachers”.
Mr Searson said that this “puts more pressure on the teachers left behind”, and it is “no wonder” his union hears of teachers seeking to leave the profession as a result of “ever-increasing pressures...to produce paper and statistics for headteachers, parents, council officers, Education Scotland inspectors and the Scottish government”.
There have also been long-running concerns about the job prospects of new teachers in Scotland. In June Tes Scotland examined why they were worsening despite Scottish government promises to increase teacher numbers.
This week the SSTA said that one example of staff cuts forcing more work on teachers was at Glasgow City Council, which “removed all their attendance officers when pupil absences were increasing”.
One Glasgow SSTA member said that “we are being made accountable for every child’s attendance” and that this was “pushing me away from a job I love”.
A Glasgow City Council spokesperson said: “The council’s budget for 2023-24 had a spending gap of £50 million.
“Education has by far the biggest budget and was protected in relative terms in comparison to other services in order to safeguard learning and teaching as much as possible.
“Our schools will be looking to review processes that will lessen any impact to the individual needs of our children and young people.”
A ‘clear choice’ not to replace support staff
SSTA president Stuart Hunter said: “Local authorities have been forced into saving money over several years. However, choosing to save money by failing to replace education support staff is a clear choice by local authorities to place the additional burden on all the teachers left behind, taking them further and further away from the core job of teaching and learning.”
He added: “The SSTA advises all members to focus on teaching and learning and not to take on tasks that do not require the skills and expertise of a teacher.”
