General Secretary Report -September 2017

Members are being advised to work within the contracted 35 hour working week and focus on teaching and learning. Additional guidance issued on School Improvement Plans; Working Time Agreements; National 5 Changes; Standardised Assessments and Bench Marks Current guidance and presentations are available at ssta.org.uk/asos Teachers Pay Claim 2017 The teachers side of the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers (SNCT) submitted a pay claim for 2017 and discussions are to continue with the Government and Employers. The SNCT claim includes…

Standardised Assessments Update - Members' Bulletin

Standardised Assessments Update Overview Scottish National Standardised Assessments (SNSA) Assessment contract with Australian Council for Education Research (ACER) Funded by the Scottish Government To be taken at P1, P4, P7 and S3 Trial involved 9,000 assessments in 66 schools in 5 local authorities To replace current Local Authority assessments Aligned to CfE and Bench Marks To assess skills in Reading, Writing and Numeracy A diagnostic report will be produced that will contribute to the professional judgement of the teacher An…
Members' Briefing

SSTA Members' Briefing 2017

Seamus Searson the General Secretary would like to meet with SSTA members to discuss the issues that face secondary teachers (pay, workload, SQA etc.) and how we protect and improve conditions for members. This is your opportunity to have your say. A list of upcoming dates and venues are shown below. Stuart McCullough, Independent Financial Advisor from Llife Ltd will also be giving a presentation on "How to Control your Pension and Retirement Date?". Agenda General Secretary - Members’ Update,…

Vacancy - Post of Professional Officer

POST OF PROFESSIONAL OFFICER We are looking for a Professional Officer who can communicate effectively, interact well with other people and who can work as part of a team.  The successful candidate will also have familiarity with the operation and ethos of a trade union, SNCT Conditions of Service and should have a sound knowledge of the Scottish education system. The post is based in Edinburgh and attracts a current salary of £50,319 per annum.  A defined contribution pension scheme…

SSTA meets Deputy First Minister

Printable Version - Members Bulletin - SSTA Meets DFM- June 17 SSTA meets Deputy First Minister The SSTA met with John Swinney, Deputy First Minister on Wednesday 21 June and discussed a number of the Association’s motions from our Annual Congress in May. The SSTA delegation was led by Kevin Campbell (President), John Guidi (Vice-President), Euan Duncan (Immediate Past President) and Seamus Searson, General Secretary. The following issues were discussed: Teachers’ Pay and Career Structure One element of the recent…

Education Governance: Next Steps - Empowering Our Teachers, Parents and Communities to Deliver Excellence and Equity for Our Children

The SSTA supports the Government’s determination to bring about improvements in Education by ‘closing the attainment gap’ and giving all young people the opportunity to fulfil their potential. However, the SSTA has argued for a process of review followed by improvements rather than major structural change. The Government has chosen to use its ‘Governance Review’ as the vehicle to look at the agencies and structures involved in education, but not the structures inside the school that support teaching and learning.…

Members' Bulletin - June 2017

A new Members' Bulletin is now available to download.  The bulletin contains information on motions passed at the SSTA 73rd Annual Congress regarding National 5 Qualifications Benchmarks Qualified Teacher in every classroom Teacher Salary Structure The bulletin can be downloaded here.

Report of the General Secretary - Congress 2017 #SSTA17

‘Put pupils first – give teachers time to teach!’ The theme of our Congress is ‘Put pupils first – give teachers time to teach!’ This is what SSTA members stood together and pushed for in our struggle against teacher and pupil workload in our ballot in the autumn of 2016. An excellent return in the ballot with a 91% vote in favour of taking ‘Action Short of Strike Action’ with a 40.8% turnout. This was not an easy decision for…

Presidential Address, SSTA Congress 2017 #SSTA17

  Presidential Address, SSTA Congress 2017 Crieff Hydro, Friday 19 May 2017 Welcome once again to our annual Congress.  One of the great pleasures for me at Congress is the way in which the Association comes together from all over the country.  It’s our opportunity to collaborate and find ways of moving Scottish education forward, and we are fortunate in having guests from a number of professional associations and other educational organisations here with us today.  As my term of…