Workload

The EIS met with the Cabinet Secretary for Education and lead civil servants on 29th October to discuss the findings of the Independent Workload Report published in June. The Report’s authors also attended the meeting.

The lead author, Professor Moira Hulme, set out the key findings – that on average Scottish teachers work more than an extra 11 hours per week unpaid; and that the two main drivers of workload are personalised planning for more diverse learner needs, and an increase in behavioural and attendance issues.

The researchers were able to confirm to Scottish Government that the high workload experienced by teachers is a national issue, across all sectors and all local authorities, and that the high average number of extra hours worked per week is not driven by a few “outlier” local authorities.

The discussion also focussed on the utility of the research data to teachers when discussing workload with their local authority; the impact of the pandemic; the workload of early career teachers; international comparisons on class contact time; ‘electronic interruptions’ from school email and WhatsApp groups; the attractiveness of teaching as a career and the ‘dysfunctional retention’ of exhausted teachers; and personal reflections from teachers in research interviews.

The Scottish Government stated that the report’s evidence, obtained through a high participation rate, was “compelling” and “consistent” with earlier workload findings, accurate and representative of the whole workforce.

The General Secretary stressed that the report concluded “that core activities – planning, preparation and marking – cannot be accomplished in contractual hours” in the current conditions, and pushed the Scottish Government to address workload by delivering on the manifesto pledges to reduce class contact time and recruit 3500 additional teachers.

The Cabinet Secretary said that swift progress needed to be made on delivering the 90 minutes’ reduction in weekly class contact to alleviate teacher workload and that she would seek to engage further with COSLA on this, with the Independent Report supporting discussions.

Pupil Behaviour

The EIS has been successful in establishing acknowledgement by the Scottish Government, COSLA and national education agencies, that there is a national pupil behaviour problem in our schools, and that teachers and pupils are paying the price.

Scottish Government and COSLA have issued a joint action plan; Relationships and Behaviour in Schools: national action plan 2024 to 2027.

The EIS decided not to endorse this action plan as there were no additional resources linked to it, but it does present an opportunity to address issues and the EIS is part of the Scottish Advisory Group on Relationships and Behaviour in Schools (SAGRABIS) that is monitoring its implementation.

To assist school branches and local associations in gauging progress locally and in feeding into evidence gathering nationally, the EIS has produced ‘Advice in relation to the Behaviour and Relationships in Schools Action Plan’, as a companion piece to the national action plan.

Crucially, many EIS Local Associations continue to drive improvements in violence and aggression reporting procedures and in the support for teachers who are victims of violence and aggression.

The EIS is also promoting the ‘Health, Safety and Wellbeing’ approach to dealing with violent and aggressive incidents, including greater use of risk assessments, formal reports to the employer, collective grievances/disputes when the employer does not engage appropriately, and reporting violent and aggressive incidents to the police where members are harmed physically or mentally.

ASN

There is a widespread recognition amongst education stakeholders that the gap between ASN policy and practice in our schools is now ‘intolerable’; trade unions and organisations representing teachers, practitioners, support workers and parents have issued a joint statement, outlining shared concern at insufficient levels of funding to deliver ASN provision to the almost 40% of pupils who require it.

Earlier this year, the EIS provided detailed evidence to the Education, Children and Young People Committee of the Scottish Parliament on their Inquiry into Additional Support for Learning, highlighting the imperative for a long-term resourcing strategy, including action to reduce class sizes, and to significantly enhance the availability of specialist ASL support and expertise within schools, to meet the promises made in ASL legislation some twenty years ago.

The Education, Children and Young People Committee produced its Report into the Inquiry on 15 May, concluding that the current situation was ‘intolerable’. It was then debated in the Scottish Parliament on 25 September.

The recommendations in the Inquiry report are being considered as part of the work of the ASL Project Board, which has been tasked to implement key aspects of the Morgan Review on ASL. The EIS is represented on this group and continues to use this forum to press for change. We will use the findings of the recent parliamentary report to amplify our calls.