Pupil behaviour and teacher wellbeing
East Dunbartonshire Local Association
“That this AGM instruct Council to conduct a member survey to investigate the impact that pupils’ dysregulated behaviour is having on teacher wellbeing, and also to look at the current supports and strategies in place in Local Authorities.”
The EIS will survey members on pupil behaviour and its impact on teacher wellbeing, following a successful motion from James McIntyre (East Dunbartonshire), “I’ve been verbally abused, including homophobic abuse, more over the past two years than I have experienced before in my entire life. Too often, it seems that staff are being gaslighted when they raise the issue.”
Reporting of abuse of members
Midlothian Local Association
“This AGM instructs Council to advise members to report any incident of abuse, including verbal, physical and/or emotional, to the police as well as utilising any local reporting procedures.”
Mike Smith (Midlothian) successfully called for advice to members to report all abuse. “Schools must be safe places for students and staff alike, not least because Health and Safety legislation requires it. Last year, 15,000 incidences of violence were reported. There has been a 989% increase in reported cases of assault in schools over the past four years.”
Seconding, Jacqui Church (Glasgow) said, “Consistent reporting will encourage a consistent approach, including from the police.”
Benevolent Fund training
Edinburgh Local Association
“That this AGM instructs Council to provide annual training to LA Secretaries and Benevolent Fund Correspondents on the range of benefits for which members who are on low pay, or no pay may be eligible, and should changes to the benefits’ systems occur during the yearly timespan for training, that a booklet containing that new information be produced and circulated to LA
Secretaries and Benevolent Fund Correspondents.”
Alison Murphy (Edinburgh) successfully called for annual Benevolent Fund training to ensure that the best possible support is available for members in need. “For many of our members, the impact of the cost of living crisis is horrific. But the Benevolent Fund can only offer so much support, we also need to be able to point our members towards other support that may be available to them,” she said.
Social media communications
Edinburgh Local Association
Glasgow Local Association
“That this AGM instructs Council to investigate and report on:-
i. The extent to which schools are using social media such as Twitter as a method of communication to parents.
ii. The pressures felt by teachers from employers and/or SLT to use social media, such as Twitter, to communicate with parents and/or young people.
iii. The amount of time spent by colleagues updating such social media platforms and if this is included in the Work Time Agreement.
iv. If devices are provided by employers to allow this to happen.
AGM further instructs Council, based on this investigation, to produce advice and guidance.”
Billy Insch (Glasgow) was successful in a call for an investigation and report into school use of social media. “The introduction of social media means that parents can now choose the time and place of contact with teachers – it has created an epidemic of expectations placed on teachers,” he said.
Phil Pearce (Edinburgh) added, “Pupils in a Glasgow school faced vile racist abuse last year, following their photograph with Nicola Sturgeon being posted on Twitter. We are increasingly asked to post more and more detail of our everyday working lives on social media for all to see, and this will be there forever. There are plenty of questions and concerns over the use of social media in schools.”