The final session of EIS Council for the academic year looked back over a busy period of campaigning activity, and ahead to the Annual General Meeting in the first week of June.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
President-elect Mark Smith, presenting his report on the work of the Executive Committee, looking back on recent work on the Stand Up for Quality Education campaign. Mr Smith highlighted the recent successful resolution of the SNCT workload dispute, which followed on from the EIS statutory ballot and vote in favour of industrial action. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mr Smith was pleased to note that the full 90 minutes of additional non-contact time will be allocated to teachers\u2019 professional time \u2013 a key red line for the EIS in negotiations. \u201cThe agreement that was reached is a great achievement for our members, and is of great credit to our negotiators,\u201d said Mr Smith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mr Smith went on to say that following the conclusion of the class contact campaign, the EIS must work to ensure that it is properly implemented across Scotland. This will be a key focus of discussions with local authorities and the newly elected Scottish Government in the year ahead. Mr Smith also added, \u201cAnd workload is just one of the three key priorities of our campaign, the Stand Up for Quality Education campaign will continue.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The President-elect also provided an update on current disputes, including the strike action over members\u2019 health and safety in the Welding and Fabrication Department at City of Glasgow College, the ongoing strike action at Edinburgh Napier University over job cuts, and the launch of a statutory ballot at Glasgow Caledonian University over planned compulsory redundancies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Answering a question from Jehan Al-Azzawi (Edinburgh) on plans to update the Israel\/Palestine education resource, hosted on the EIS website, Mr Smith indicated that this piece of work will be actioned by the Executive Committee, in liaison with the Education Committee and that further information will be available in the next session.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Convener Susan Quinn updated Council on the work of the Committee over the past session, and noted that, on the government\u2019s programme of education reform, that Qualifications Scotland has now been established in place of the SQA and that the HMIe has now been decoupled from Education Scotland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ms Quinn noted that the GTCS elections had now taken place, and that five EIS supported candidates were successful in being elected to the GTCS. This means that EIS-supported candidates remain in the majority of the teacher-elected cohort of GTCS Council.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the Rapid Online Learning Review, Ms Quinn said that the Committee had noted the recent report on the Review, and that ongoing work in this area would be the responsibility of the Cabinet Secretary for Education following the Holyrood election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ms Quinn went on to reiterate that the online review process was never supposed to be about replacing teachers with online models, but warned that there is a significant push ongoing \u2013 largely on cost grounds \u2013 to move to online models as a replacement for in-class teaching. \u201cWe will continue to strongly oppose this model of learning, which is a threat to quality education and teacher professionalism,\u201d said Ms Quinn<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Susan Slater, delivering her final report as Convener of the Employment Relations Committee, updated Council on the growing number of cases brought in relation to violence and aggression in schools \u2013 which was worrying, but also a sign that the EIS\u2019s drive for all cases to be reported, recorded and dealt with appropriately is having an impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Benevolence matters, the Committee had considered 33 cases at its last meeting, and authorised support grants totalling \u00a390,000. On legal affairs, the Committee considered 24 cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ms Slater also confirmed that the new EIS Health & Safety Handbook was being launched at a special event in the near future, and that 41 H&S Reps had expressed an interest in joining the EIS Health & Safety network.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Convener Nicola Fisher updated Council on the work of the Committee, and confirmed that the Equality fringe event at this year\u2019s AGM would have the theme \u201cLet\u2019s change the story\u201d, which would tie in with the EIS campaign on disrupting disinformation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ms Fisher also announced that a series of six short videos to support the Disrupting Disinformation \u2013 Let\u2019s Change the Story project will be produced. EIS staff and lay members had recently been involved in a range of anti-far right initiatives across Scotland, said Ms Fisher, in what was becoming an increasingly important area of work for the Institute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ms Fisher also reported that an education resource is currently being developed to accompany the film \u2018Everybody to Kenmure Street\u2019, which chronicles community resistance to a Home Office immigration raid in Glasgow in 2021. The EIS, which was amongst the financial backers of the film production, has agreed to collaborate with the working group on the development of the education resource, said Ms Fisher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Convener Des Morris provided a final update on the, now concluded, SNCT Workload dispute, referencing the agreement that was reached between the EIS, Scottish Government and COSLA on the day of the previous meeting of EIS Council. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Full funding will be provided by the Scottish Government, said Mr Morris, including workforce expansion costs, and the agreement re-affirms the central role of the SNCT in agreeing teachers\u2019 terms and conditions. The SNCT had now formally accepted the agreement, officially bringing an end to the SNCT workload dispute over class contact time, confirmed Mr Morris.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the reclassification of back-pay paid in the year 2023\/2024, Mr Morris confirmed that legal work was continuing on this issue, and that further developments were anticipated in the near future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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