{"id":1881,"date":"2026-04-13T10:45:41","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T09:45:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sej.org.uk\/apr2026\/dec2020\/?p=1881"},"modified":"2026-04-13T10:45:43","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T09:45:43","slug":"cctdispute","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sej.org.uk\/apr2026\/cctdispute\/","title":{"rendered":"EIS pressure led to agreement on teacher workload dispute"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As we highlight in the Council News in this edition of the SEJ, the recent agreement to end the SNCT workload dispute came after a period of sustained pressure on the Scottish Government and COSLA, following the EIS statutory industrial action ballot and advanced plans for a programme of Action Short of Strike (ASOS) and targeted strike action in key political constituencies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At its recent Council meeting, the EIS announced that it was suspending all planned industrial action over teacher workload, following the agreement being reached between the EIS, Scottish Government and COSLA. A draft agreement, previously approved by both the EIS and Scottish Government, was also approved by COSLA leaders on the same Friday that EIS Council met.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The draft agreement, as approved by all three sides, has now passed to the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers (SNCT) for formal approval and implementation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The agreement will allocate the full 90 minutes per week reduction in class contact time to teachers\u2019 professional time, for use on teacher-determined activities including preparation and correction of pupil work. There is also a commitment from the Scottish Government to fully fund the agreement on an ongoing basis.<\/p>\n\n\n

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This outcome represents a major victory for the EIS and for Scotland\u2019s pupils and teachers. The agreement will deliver the promised reduction in maximum class contact time for teachers. This will have a positive impact on the workload burden of all teachers, and help to create more jobs for the thousands of newly and recently qualified teachers currently seeking secure employment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There can be no doubt that it is the collective action taken by the EIS and its members that has delivered this positive outcome for Scotland\u2019s teachers and pupils. It is clear that the recent statutory ballot result, where EIS members voted in their tens of thousands in support of industrial action, has played a key role in pressing for a successful outcome to this long-running dispute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The EIS acknowledged, also, the recent combined efforts of the Scottish Government and COSLA in achieving the agreement. This has also strengthened the status of the SNCT, and highlighted the value of continued tripartite negotiations via this forum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Commenting, EIS General Secretary Andrea Bradley said, \u201cThe EIS is extremely pleased that a negotiated outcome, which has been approved by all sides, has now been achieved in this long-running dispute. This agreement will have a positive impact on teacher workload and will help to create more jobs for the many newly and recently qualified teachers currently seeking secure employment in schools across Scotland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“This is a positive outcome for Scottish education, and for teachers and pupils. It will deliver more teachers into our schools, with a positive impact on teacher workload and the creation of an improved learning environment and experience for pupils.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ms Bradley added, \u201cIt is the collective strength of Scotland\u2019s teachers, working through the EIS, that has delivered this positive outcome. We are extremely pleased that both the Scottish Government and COSLA have listened to the very clear message that was sent by EIS members, and have now agreed the way forward on these positive changes for Scottish education. This agreement will help to deliver a brighter future for our schools, and for all teachers and pupils across Scotland.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How the deal finally was reached<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The EIS was fighting this fight alone, as the only teaching union that had secured an industrial action mandate over teacher workload. All the leverage gained, and all the improvements that will be delivered through this agreement, are the result of the recent successful EIS statutory ballot and the subsequent preparations for industrial action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The EIS was fighting this fight alone, as the only teaching union that had secured an industrial action mandate over teacher workload. <\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

While the final agreement is, of course, a compromise in which no side got everything that they ideally wanted, the EIS believes that this was the best deal that could be achieved through negotiation at the current time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was, also, extremely important that negotiations were concluded, and an agreement reached, before the purdah period ahead of the Scottish Parliament elections, which commenced on the 26th March.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reaching a deal after this date and before the forthcoming election on 7th May would have been politically impossible, would have entailed a lengthy wait for the next Scottish Government to be elected, and carried no guarantee that previous commitments on tackling teacher workload through reducing class contact time would be honoured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The EIS Salaries Committee and the EIS Executive Committee were unanimous in their decisions to accept the deal and to halt the planned programme of industrial action, respectively; and the EIS believes that taking the deal and the significant wins that it included was in the best interests of Scottish education, Scotland\u2019s teachers and pupils in our schools.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As we highlight in the Council News in this edition of the SEJ, the recent agreement to end the SNCT workload dispute came after a period of sustained pressure on the Scottish Government and COSLA, following the EIS statutory industrial action ballot and advanced plans for a programme of Action Short of Strike (ASOS) and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2715,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","_editorskit_title_hidden":false,"_editorskit_reading_time":0,"_editorskit_is_block_options_detached":false,"_editorskit_block_options_position":"{}","footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1881","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cover"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sej.org.uk\/apr2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1881","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sej.org.uk\/apr2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sej.org.uk\/apr2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sej.org.uk\/apr2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sej.org.uk\/apr2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1881"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"https:\/\/sej.org.uk\/apr2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1881\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2735,"href":"https:\/\/sej.org.uk\/apr2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1881\/revisions\/2735"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sej.org.uk\/apr2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sej.org.uk\/apr2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sej.org.uk\/apr2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sej.org.uk\/apr2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}