Scotland has always had its own teachers’ pay arrangements. The year zero for the current system was 2001 with the introduction of the McCrone agreement.
It introduced workload reforms designed to limit teachers’ hours to a 35-hour week and set up the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers made up of unions, employers and government.
This new tripartite pay negotiation system meant central government, by now the Scottish Executive, was given a clear role instead of its previous shadowy existence pulling the strings of local government employers.
Its first deal in 2001 brought a 23 per cent pay rise for teachers over three years and a new, flatter management structure. A second, in 2004, delivered a 10.43 per cent rise over four years.
A six-point main scale ranges from pound;23,316-pound;31,008, with teachers usually progressing a point every year. A six-point chartered teacher scale can bring classroom teachers from pound;31,968-pound;38,013. But to qualify they must take a masters degree- style qualification which can take four years and cost up to pound;8,000.
Heads and depute heads are paid on a 19-point scale from pound;38,343-Pounds 74,844 according to their responsibilities, the size of their school and its level of deprivation.
