Scotland has a good education system that benefits from the commitment and professionalism of teachers and lecturers who deliver strong outcomes for children and young people, despite the significant challenges of under-resourcing.

These challenges, however, are becoming greater, as are the demands on teachers and lecturers, as are the external pressures on young people from those sharing ideologies that threaten social cohesion, equality, human rights and democracy. The EIS believes that education is a vital antidote to the poisonous, corrosive narratives that have been taking hold through social media and increasingly making their way into the mainstream.

The EIS believes that the Scottish Government and the Scottish Parliament need to do more to ensure that all children and young people in Scotland, from Early Years to Higher Education, receive a quality education, and that the system is resourced at a level that realises this aim. Currently, it is not.

The decimation of teacher numbers in Early Years does Scotland’s youngest learners a disservice

The ratio of qualified teachers (FTE) to pupils (aged 3 and over) in Early Years in 2010 was 1:60, but with a 54% reduction in the number of nursery teachers over that period, the ratio in 2025 was sitting at almost 1:120, one teacher to 119 pupils – teachers now having double the number of pupils to support.

When we compare these statistics to those available for OECD countries which reflect an average of 13 pupils per teacher in Early Years settings, it is clear that Scotland can and must do better in resourcing the education of our youngest learners.

School teachers under significant strain

Teaching is a satisfying and fulfilling profession, which positively impacts pupils and students, and helps to shape our society. In our schools, however, large class sizes and high levels of teaching time, fewer promoted staff, proportionally less specialist support and worsening pupil behaviour sees teachers in Scotland straining to do all that is demanded of them with insufficient resources.

This is especially true now that 43% of young people in schools have a recognised additional support need (ASN), yet ASN support has spectacularly failed to rise with demand year upon year over the past decade or so.

As a result, teachers in Scotland are tired, have high stress levels, low job satisfaction and work a significant number of unpaid hours every week, at the expense of their own health and wellbeing. This is neither fair nor sustainable. And neither is it fair that children and young people in large classes with over-stretched staff are unable to get the time, attention and support that they deserve.

There are simply not enough teachers in the education system to do all the work that is required to provide quality education for all children and young people on a sustainable basis, and in the face of the growing societal and geopolitical challenges before us.

To compound matters further, since the onset of austerity in 2010, teachers’ salaries have significantly declined in their real terms value, falling further and further behind the salary levels in many of the education systems amongst OECD countries, including Ireland.

Further and Higher Education must be funded properly too

Our colleges and universities also play a critical role, and we must ensure that all learning pathways have parity of esteem with sufficient funding to make this a reality.

we must ensure that all learning pathways have parity of esteem with sufficient funding to make this a reality.

Colleges, in particular, provide a second chance for many learners to thrive. Many college learners go on to university, and equally as important, to staff many of society’s essential jobs, such as care workers, plumbers, and other vital roles.

Most school leavers move on to college or university after school in order to continue their education, both for their own development and to prepare for the world of work.

Colleges and universities have different roles and tailor their work to the needs of their students. For many young people and adults, further and higher education builds on the foundation laid by schools to provide the opportunities for success for individuals and thus society as a whole.

Education at all stages is a social good from which everyone in society benefits.

Evidence shows that investment in education not only ensures that our citizens are equipped to be able to live more fulfilled lives and make more worthwhile contributions to our society, but that it also leads to better long-term health outcomes – better physical and mental health, better jobs, fewer addiction-related issues, better family and community relationships, and it results in fewer interactions with the criminal justice system.

In essence, if properly resourced, education nurtures and saves lives, in the short and long term; and saves the economy a significant amount of money in remedying the damaging societal consequences of short-term policies and under-investment in Education.

Teachers and lecturers are mission-critical to enabling such social good, and so must be supported by government and employers.

Currently, the challenging aspects of teaching are exacerbated, not mitigated, by the low levels of investment in Education. Together with workload strains and over-stretched capacity, non-competitive graduate pay and limited career pathways, teaching is neither recruiting nor retaining a sufficient number of teachers across the country or in a range of secondary subjects.

The EIS believes unequivocally that public spending on education is money well spent

With all of this in mind, and a clear view that not enough is being spent on education in Scotland currently, the EIS launched its Stand Up for Quality Education (SU4QE) campaign at its AGM in June 2023.

This manifesto sets out the aims of the Stand Up for Quality Education campaign as well as other policies debated and adopted by EIS representatives from across Scotland.

Our policies are ambitious and will set Scotland’s education system and people up for generations to come – but such change and positive reform requires investment and requires political vision and will.

The EIS Stand Up for Quality Education (SU4QE) Manifesto outlines key EIS priorities for an ambitious and resilient early-years and school sector that delivers equitably for pupils and students, that becomes the cornerstone of a just, cohesive and prosperous society, and that truly values, respects and supports its teachers to best deliver for our children and young people.

One aspect that is a significant concern to the EIS is that ASN demands are not being met, and that the gap between ASL legislation and guidance, and practice on the ground, is significant and growing. More resources and professional support need to be put into ASN, and ASN funding needs to be ringfenced.

We hope that all the political parties will adopt the policies and aims of our manifesto and present them in their own manifestos. There is, however, the responsibility of the elected party (or parties) to deliver what they promised. Otherwise, the repeated failure to deliver manifesto promises will erode trust in political parties and fuel voter cynicism, which can then be exploited by populists and those even further on the right wing of politics.

This is an extracted summary of the EIS Manifesto. Read the full version at: www.eis.org.uk