The SSTA’s 74th Annual Congress took place on Friday 18th & Saturday 19th May 2018 at Crieff Hydro.
Video of the Presidential Address, Report of the General Secretary and John Swinney’s speech and Question and Answer session from the 74th Annual Congress is now available to view at http://www.ssta.org.uk/congress2018
SSTA Congress 2018
The 74th SSTA Annual Congress took place on the 18-19 May in Crieff. The SSTA President Kevin Campbell’s Address and the General Secretary’s Report can be viewed by clicking on the links.
The Deputy First Minister John Swinney addressed Congress and took questions from members. Seamus Searson General Secretary gave a reply to the Ministers and this can be seen at www.ssta.org.uk/congress2018
Further information from Congress will appear on the SSTA website in the coming days
Teachers’ Pay 2018 – Update – 16 May 2018
The latest meeting of the SNCT Extended Joint Chairs (EIS, SSTA, COSLA and Scottish Government) took place on 16 May. You will remember that COSLA (the employers) made a pay offer of 2% for those above £36,500 and 3% for those below. The Scottish Government were keen to address recruitment and retention of teachers and were keen to discuss these issues positively. The negotiations are now at an early stage but there still a number of matters to be resolved. The full meeting of the SNCT is due take place on 31 May. Further updates to follow.
SQA Changes to National 5 Courses – survey to close
A big thank you to all members who have already responded to the survey. We have had a very good response and it has helped to give a good picture of the impact of the changes for both teachers and pupils. The survey will close on Tuesday 5 June. Please use the link below to participate. You can complete the survey at https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/GPRFC58
SSTA 75th Design Competition – £75 prize
The SSTA was established in 1944 and will be 75 Years old in 2019. The SSTA would like to invite members to take part in designing a logo to be used throughout the year. It is intended to use the chosen design on all publicity materials, promotional items, correspondence etc. and there will be a number of prizes for entries including a prize of £75 for the selected design.
We are not requiring a finalised piece of work but a basic design that can be developed for our requirements. To participate just forward your design (more than one if you choose) to Headquarters by Friday 15 June 2018. High resolution versions of the SSTA logo and crest are available on request.
Please send you submission to info@ssta.org.uk with the email subject as “75th Anniversary Logo”.
Notice Periods
Members are reminded that if it is your intention to leave your post at the end of the summer break you are required to give 4 working weeks notice.
GDPR – Updated Privacy Policy
As you will be aware, the law regarding data protection has changed; and from the 25th May 2018 any organisation that processes personal data will need to comply with the provisions of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
To meet the requirements set out by GDPR we have updated our privacy policy. You can view the updated updated privacy policy here.
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SSTA General Secretary Speech to Congress 2018
We are approaching 75 years of the SSTA and the issues in 1944 are the same as the issue of 2018 to protect the interests of secondary teachers in Scotland.
Concerns over conditions of service, pay and workload appear throughout our history and will probably do so for a good number of years.
The objects of the Association are
The voice of the secondary school teacher must be heard above the demands for change or changes imposed will result in the famous phrase, I hear a lot, the “unintended consequences”. That will usually end in the changes having to be undone and with extra teacher workload.
I will focus first on the issues that SSTA members are demanding to be heard
The Teacher Shortage
The SSTA response is simple and direct ‘Teacher Retention, Recruitment and Restoration’.
The years of austerity measures have seen teacher numbers cut, promotion opportunities reduced, reduction in pay in ‘real terms, increased workload, cuts in educational support staff and have left the teacher in the classroom alone and unsupported to face the world.
Why not take all measures ‘pull out all the stops’ to encourage teachers to stay. This can be achieved by paying teachers properly, providing a ‘real’ career structure, valuing teacher’s professional judgment, find much needed teacher time by reducing workload, and giving teachers ‘real’ support with the appropriate educational professionals in meeting the challenges that pupils bring in to schools.
Some say it is the teacher unions that are running-down the profession. Unfortunately that is an excuse to deflect responsibility, rather than address the issues that teachers try to bring to the table. Ignoring or not accepting the message of the SSTA is just storing-up problems for the future.
SSTA is not going to stop putting the views of its members to those who make the decisions and can help address the problems that teachers have identified.
We need to encourage people to join the profession with offers of professional respect, professional levels of pay, career development and a manageable workload. Teaching should be seen as a career for life not a job for a few years until something better comes along.
The numbers speak for themselves. The top of the main grade point 6 in 2008 was £32,583 and in 2018 it is £36,480. This is an increase of 11.96% in 10 years. But the rate of inflation over the same period has been 26% leaving a loss of more than 14% in teachers’ pay over the last 10 years.
However, that is not the full story as teachers now pay an extra 1.4% National Insurance and an extra 3.3% pension contribution that makes a total 18.7% deficit in terms of real take home pay. To address this short fall the main grade teacher salary should be in the region of £43,000 in order to restore pay.
The SSTA is a full member of the SNCT and the 10% SNCT claim is our claim. This 10% claim not unreasonable and is the first step in a restorative pay claim. The Government needs to support and value its teachers by making a major effort to restore teacher pay levels.
Teacher Career Pathways
Again the figures are clear of the scale of the problem.
In 2010 there were 24,776 secondary teachers but by 2017 that number fell to 23,150 a reduction of 1626 (a reduction of 7%).
The number of Depute Headteacher posts fell from by 1242 to 1108 a reduction 134 (a reduction of 9%).
However, the number of principal teacher posts over the same period fell from 6617 to 5392 a reduction of 1225 (a reduction of 8%). This meant 75% of the teaching posts lost were principal teacher posts.
This is compounded when you add the end of the Chartered Teacher Scale with no replacement and the devastating devaluing of supply teachers by cutting their pay. The employers and schools abused supply teachers for many years by breaking their service to keep them at the bottom of the scale. Is it any wonder they disappeared from the system. The delay in implementing a national supply register is continuing the unfair treatment of our supply teachers.
Many of these changes were not sought for by teachers but took place to save money and squeeze those teachers left in the system.
Have the demands placed on schools reduced during between 2010 and 2017? No, they have continued to increase. Additional workload beyond the classroom, the demands of the national qualification system and the teacher accountability measures have also have increased. The “unintended consequence” is that teaching became less attractive as a career and would eventually lead to a teacher shortage. This was completely predictable and avoidable.
SSTA has advocated a progressive review of the teacher career pathways and looks forward to flexible and alternative routes for teachers throughout their careers.
The SSTA expects proper recognition for all teacher roles in the education system, especially those in the classroom. The focus must be on teaching and learning.
Teacher Workload
‘Put pupils first – give teachers time to teach!’
We need to give teachers back control of their time. Teachers need to focus on teaching and learning, and put to one side those duties and tasks that do not help the teacher in the classroom. We are making progress but more needs to be done.
We must ensure that the teacher contract is honoured and teacher workload is reasonably managed by strict control of the school’s Working Time Agreement.
All school improvement plans, local authority improvement plans, regional improvement plans and government priorities need to be accommodated within the Working Time Agreement.
It is not hard for those creating priorities and new initiatives to have the proposals to be considered by schools in January of each year before the school begins work on the Working Time Agreement.
It often appears that Government, Education Scotland, local authorities and sometimes Headteachers in schools don’t understand what a Working Time Agreement is and the need to prioritise and plan the work for the coming school year.
A good case in point is the introduction of subject Bench Marks, Standardised Assessments and National 5 changes last year. They were introduced after many school Working Time Agreements had been agreed.
Then the powers to be demanded that the training and hours of work needed were a priority and put pressure on the teachers in the schools to get the work done before the Inspectorate arrived. This way of managing change needs to stop. Good planning and acceptance that everything cannot be delivered at once is the only way forward. Teachers are tired of being pressurised and overloaded. Teachers need to say NO more often.
National Qualifications
The Deputy First Minister said in relation to the changes to National 5
“This will help to reduce unnecessary workload for teachers and learners. It is not enough to have good teachers if they do not have the time and space to do their job. That is why groups like this are essential to help us strip away anything that creates unnecessary workload for the profession”
Teachers were told to expect changes to assessment arrangements but not to course content. Last year the SSTA survey on National 5 changes, predicted the increased workload across all subjects of the proposed changes.
In the last week SSTA conducted a survey at the end of the National 5 course on the impact of the changes. 1,168 members responded across all subjects.
The Overall impact on Teacher Workload 21% said there had been no reduction in workload with 66% of teachers seeing an increase in workload.
The Removal of units – 34% of teachers had seen no reduction in workload with a further 34% seeing an increase in workload.
The Extending of the Exams 30% saw no reduction in workload whilst a further 52% saw an increase
The Changes to coursework 24% saw no reduction and 49% saw an increase in teacher workload.
However, the Impact on pupils of the changes to National 5 is very worrying, especially when there has been a lot of talk about pupil’s health and wellbeing and mental health.
Members have seen a 57% increase in pupil workload, a 68% increase in pupil stress and a 28% expected decrease in qualification success. We all need to ask the question why we are doing this to our children
The Ministers expectation that removal of the units would reduce teacher workload has been undermined when he agreed to the retention of ‘fallback’. This has resulted in 90,000 unit entries taking place at National 5. It is worth noting that ‘fallback’ had been intended to be used only in exceptional circumstances.
This crudely equates to 30,000 students completing 3 units per subject would mean approximately 70+ pupils in every secondary school were ‘exceptional circumstances’.
Again SSTA predicted that teacher workload would not be reduced and it would put additional pressure on teachers and pupils. We are creating ‘examination factories’ not places of learning where happiness is seen as a good and valued thing.
The National Qualification system needs to be reviewed the present system is not working for our pupils. The conflict between broad general education and the senior phase needs to be resolved. National qualifications have become “never mind the quality feel the width”. The situation of National 4 must be addressed urgently and the premise that is a stepping stone to National 5 is not justified when less than 25% of pupils are progressing to National 5.
We need a system that primarily focuses on teacher professional judgement without the workload heavy, bureaucratic and administrative nonsense we have now.
Teaching and Incidents of Violence
The SSTA survey (March 1079 responses) confirmed the regular reports we have been receiving at headquarters from members of the increasing problem of poor behaviour in schools.
In our survey 70% of members experienced incidents of serious verbal abuse; 60% had experienced incidents of threatening or menacing behaviour and 19% experienced incidents of physical assault
Headteachers and Teachers feel unsupported in trying to maintain good discipline in schools. The constant statistical drive to reduce permanent and temporary exclusions is putting tremendous pressures on schools and teachers.
Exclusions have become to be seen as a teacher and the school failing. When in reality it is showing that schools, following years of staffing and funding cuts, are unable to meet the needs of all their pupils in the schools. These pupils become frustrated and disillusioned and ‘hit back’ at the teachers and the remaining few education support staff in schools.
In our survey 28% of teachers said they were not familiar with the reporting of incidents of violence procedure in their school or authority.
And when asked ‘Did you report it’
only 55% of those who suffered serious verbal abuse did report it;
only 66% of teachers threatened or received menacing behaviour and
only 71% reported physical assault.
But the most telling statistic only 33% said they felt supported or received feedback after the incident.
The difficulties in reporting incidents and the perceived lack of ‘no action being taken’ undermines teachers and fails to address the needs and the worsening conditions in schools. The high number of teachers who feel that the schools try to ‘sweep it under the carpet’ and not address the issue is alarming.
Schools and local authorities ‘who put their heads in the sand’ and fail to address the issue are just storing up problems in the future. It is far better to address the behaviour at the earliest stage before it gets out of hand. It is no wonder that teachers are leaving our schools when levels of poor behaviour and lack of support is a regular occurrence in schools.
All violent incidents of must be reported, and any overly bureaucratic and duplicate processes need to be removed. It is not unreasonable for teachers to expect action to be taken by the employers and the schools to reduce these incidents and protect staff. But overall teachers need to be believed and supported when these incidents occur.
Education Bill 2018
Take it as a given that SSTA members care about education and getting the best for their pupils. The main areas of concern for SSTA members are very straightforward pay, workload and pupil behaviour.
The Education Bill is intended to create a school and teacher-led education system. But when governments legislate it must be built on public consensus. In this case the changes intended are not welcomed by the majority of the public and in some instances are already happening.
The creation of Regional Improvement Collaboratives is already happening without legislation.
Improving parental and community engagement and strengthen the voice of children and young people is a place schools would like to be but a lack of funding to provide staff and time has not helped. Provide the resource and it will happen again no need for legislation.
The creation of a Headteachers’ Charter is unwanted by many Head teachers as they are already struggling to cope with all the demands placed upon them. There is no public consensus for this so Minister don’t proceed.
The last plank of the legislation is Education Workforce Council teachers don’t need it and other education workers are not demanding it. To introduce it would be an imposition and not what the public wants.
The priority must be to make changes that are going to help the teacher in the classroom today. If the proposed Education Bill is not going to help teachers in the classroom today then don’t do it. It does not address the issues that are important to teachers today Pay, workload and pupil behaviour.
Teacher Voice
Over the last year the teacher voice has been marginalised and in particular the voice of the secondary school teacher. The Minister has rearranged those who he talks to and listens to. It is easy to surround yourself with people that say the things that you like to hear. It is much harder to listen to those who will challenge you and are prepared to question your direction of travel.
SSTA has represented its members by putting the views of its members to all levels within the education system. Unfortunately, some of the ‘home truths’ are not too easy to take. The SSTA is not walking away but wants to work with all parties to address teacher issues and find solutions.
For the sake of our children and our very good education system the Minister needs to listen to Secondary School Teachers he needs to listen to the SSTA.
SSTA Congress 2018
The 74th SSTA Annual Congress is taking place on the 18-19 May in Crieff. The Deputy First Minister John Swinney will be addressing Congress on the opening morning of Congress. You can follow the events and debate on motions of Congress on twitter on #SSTA18.
Working Time Agreements
At this time of year schools should be concluding their Working Time Agreements for the 2018 -2019 Academic Year. This should include elements of the School Improvement Plan if suitable time is identified and quantified. Please see SSTA guidance on Working Time Agreements.
The SSTA advises that all changes to National Qualifications including modifications to National 5 and Higher need suitable time allocated. The same advice applies to any new education priorities or new initiatives that are proposed which cannot be undertaken during the school year unless additional time is allocated.
SSTA advises all members to decline any work that is not accounted for within the Working Time Agreement. Please contact SSTA Headquarters to seek support if additional work is expected of members.
Conservation
Conservation is an issue which keeps recurring because of the plethora of acting posts due to secondments, career breaks and difficulty in filling roles permanently. These posts can go on for long periods of time.
Any member who is acting up into a promoted post for a period of more than 2 years becomes entitled to conservation of salary for a period of 3 years from the date of being stepped back down again.
During this 3 year period the salary is frozen and no increases will be applicable. Also no duties associated with the prior promoted post will be required to be carried out as the member again takes on the Job Description of the post previously held.
If members have any questions about Conservation please contact Headquarters.
Benchmarks
There is no expectation that teachers will report on learners’ achievement of a level in curriculum areas beyond literacy and numeracy. Benchmarks for all other areas of the curriculum needs to be proportionate and manageable. Teachers and other practitioners should be given time to engage in professional discussion to become familiar with the Benchmarks. The emphasise should be on Holistic Assessments.
Teachers are NOT required to use them but are for awareness raising. Inspectors will NOT be looking for Bencmark evidence during Inspections but will ask as to their progress https://education.gov.scot/improvement/Documents/CfE-FAQs-0418.pdf
Short Term Supply Teachers
As you will no doubt have heard, from 1 January 2018 supply teachers are now paid their appropriate point on the scale from day 1 of any contract.
However, those who are asked to do short-term supply, i.e. 2 days or less will be paid for the available school contact hours for the day plus 10% for preparation – e.g. school contact hours 7 periods x 50 minutes = 350 minutes maximum contact time plus 10% (35 minutes) – claim should be for 385 minutes or 6 hours 25 minutes.
We are aware that some schools are attempting to only pay for the actual contact hours but the agreement is clear that members in this situation should be paid the available school contact hours, whether or not they are asked to teach for the whole day. It is up to the employing school to ensure that supply teachers are deployed adequately.
SSTA 75th Design Competition – £75 prize
The SSTA was established in 1944 and will be 75 Years old in 2019. The Association will be organising a number of national and local events to mark the coming of age and need a design to mark the occasion.
The SSTA would like to invite members to take part in designing a logo to be used throughout the year. It is intended to use the chosen design on all publicity materials, promotional items, correspondence etc. and there will be a number of prizes for entries including a prize of £75 for the selected design.
We are not requiring a finalised piece of work but a basic design that can be developed for our requirements. To participate just forward your design (more than one if you choose) to Headquarters by Friday 15 June 2018. High resolution versions of the SSTA logo and crest are available on request.
Please send you submission to info@ssta.org.uk with the email subject as “75th Anniversary Logo”.
National 5 Survey
Members are encouraged to respond to the recently released SSTA survey on the impact of the National 5 changes. Please use the link below to participate. Members views are very important in our discussions with the Scottish Government. You can complete the survey at https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/GPRFC58
General Secretary Briefings
The SSTA will be holding a number of Member Briefings that will include SNCT Pay negotiations before the end of term. Details will be issued separately in the coming days.
The SSTA is conducting a survey of members who have been involved in the teaching of the ‘New’ National 5 Qualification.
Last year SSTA members predicted a high level of increased workload because of the changes to National 5 qualification. It is now important following the implementation of the new qualification to assess the true impact on workload for teachers and the impact on pupils.
This survey will be used in discussion with the Deputy First Minister, Government Officials and SQA.
An email has been sent to members with a link to take part in the survey. If you have not received the email it is possible it may have been delivered to a spam or junk folder. Please check these folders for the email. If it is not there, please email info@ssta.org.uk and ask for the link to the survey be sent you.
Thank you for your continued support.
Yours sincerely
Seamus Searson
General Secretary
Teachers Pay – April 2018
SSTA Position
SNCT 2018 Pay Claim submitted on the 8 February
COSLA (employers) response on 27 March
Scottish Government response on 19 April
SNCT Panel on Career Pathways
Regional Improvement Collaboratives (RICs) for Education
SSTA meeting Education Scotland -30 April 2018
Role of Education Scotland
assistant director, attainment advisers, inspectors, senior education officers, education officers, and development Officers
Bench Marks
https://education.gov.scot/improvement/Documents/CfE-FAQs-0418.pdf
Regional Improvement Collaboratives (RIC) – 6 Areas
Teacher Workload
Scottish Trade Union Congress (STUC) – Aviemore 16 -18 April 2018
First Ministers (Nicola Sturgeon) address (start 17.50 min)
https://www.facebook.com/scottishtuc/videos/10155480190867338/
Leader of Scottish Labour (Richard Leonard) address
https://www.facebook.com/scottishtuc/videos/10155482761012338/
Announcements
SSTA Motions passed
Education Union Motions
| STUC General Council
STUC to focus on May Day activities (week 5 – 12 March) ‘Educate, Agitate, Organise’ |
SQA – New National 5 and ‘Fallback’
New Highers
Forthcoming Events
SSTA Congress, Crieff 18 – 19 May 2018
STUC LGBT+ Workers Conference, Glasgow, 9-10 June 2018
STUC Women’s Conference, Dundee, 29-30 October 2018
Teachers’ Pay 2018 – Update – 20 April 2018
The latest meeting of the SNCT Extended Joint Chairs (EIS, SSTA, COSLA and Scottish Government) took place on Thursday 19 April. The teachers’ side were disappointed that the Scottish Government,at this stage, were not prepared to offer any additional funding after having said at the last meeting that it wished time to consider its position. At the last meeting on 27 March, COSLA (the employers) made a pay offer of 2% for those above £36,500 and 3% for those below.
The teachers’ side was not impressed with the lack of progress in making an important investment in education by attempting to resolve the teacher retention and recruitment crisis. Education is the Government’s priority and a resolution to 2018 pay award is essential to allow teachers to focus on teaching and learning.
A further meeting has been scheduled for Wednesday 16 May, but your negotiators left both the Scottish Government and COSLA in no doubt that they are not prepared to accept procrastination as a tactic from the management side and that the clock was very definitely ticking.
SSTA Rejects the COSLA Pay Offer
The SSTA is negotiating through the SNCT in progressing the 2018 pay claim. The Teachers’ Side submitted a pay claim of 10% for teachers at all grades to the SNCT on 8 February. COSLA (the employers) responded on 27 March by making a pay offer of 2% for those above £36,500 and 3% for those below (Colsa letter ‘2018 Pay Offer Letter to SNCT‘ ). The Teacher Side negotiators (SSTA and EIS) rejected the offer and the proposal for a differentiated pay deal. The Teachers’ Side was disappointed that a differentiated pay deal was offered despite a complete rejection of the proposal during the 2017 pay negotiations.
The employer’s offer made reference to ‘parity’ across all four of its bargaining groups and as a consequence fails to address the current teacher retention and recruitment crisis. It was equally disappointing that the COSLA offer was termed as its ‘best and final offer’. This would result in no scope for negotiation.
However, the SNCT awaits the response from the Scottish Government on the situation at its next meeting on 19 April. At this point it would be premature to seek the views of members on the employers offer as the negotiating process has yet to reach its conclusion. The SSTA is committed to try and reach a negotiated pay agreement and seek a package that retains the current teacher workforce and a process of restoration of teacher salaries.
SNCT Panel on Career Pathways
The SNCT has agreed to establish an independent panel that will consider the design and development of career pathway models and report its recommendations to SNCT by the end of September 2018. The panel will include representatives of the teacher associations, the employers, Scottish Government and an Independent Chair. The panel will engage with the teaching profession in Scotland in order to develop a range of models of career pathways to enable the development of different careers in teaching. The new pathways will provide opportunities for teachers to diversify their career and act to support high quality teaching and learning. Please note: the work of the Headteacher Recruitment Working Group will operate to the same timescale.
New National 5 and ‘Fallback’
The SSTA has informed the SQA that it will conduct a survey of members after the Easter break on the changes made at National 5 and the impact they have had on pupils and teachers. The SSTA has met with SQA and raised members concerns on this issue at National 5 in different subjects and the need for schools to allocate sufficient time to prepare materials and pupils for the examinations.
Unfortunately, the Ministers decision to retain ‘fallback’ has resulted in 90,000 unit entries taking place at National 5. It is worth noting that ‘fallback’ had been intended to be used only in exceptional circumstances. This information shows that pressure has been placed on pupils and teachers to complete more work than is necessary to achieve national qualifications. This has underlined SSTA fears that the teacher workload would be increased rather than decreased as a consequence of the changes.
New Highers
The SQA has assured the SSTA that all information required for the new Higher Qualification in all subjects will be available to schools by the end of April. It is also anticipated that Advance Higher materials will be produced in a similar way and completed by the end of April 2019.
Tax Relief on Professional Subscriptions
We should like to remind you that your SSTA subscriptions are a tax allowable expense. Twothirds of the annual subscription payable to the Association is allowable for income tax relief. Section 343, Part 5, Chapter 2 of the Income tax (Earning and Pensions) Act 2003. Further information on how to make a claim can be found on the HMRC website
https://www.gov.uk/tax-relief-for-employees/professional-fees-andsubscriptions
There are specialist firms that can assist you in doing this and at the same time, check if you have been missing out on any other tax allowances or been given the wrong tax code by HMRC meaning you are owed a tax refund. The Tax Refund Company is one such firm and has helped over 140,000 teachers. They can quickly find out if it worth having your tax codes checked by visiting www.thetaxrefundcompany.co.uk/new/ref=teachers
Tuesday 27 March 2018
The Teachers’ Side negotiators of the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers (SNCT) have today (Tuesday) rejected a pay offer of 2% / 3% from local authorities to Scotland’s teachers. The offer was presented by the Employers’ Side of the SNCT at a meeting of the SNCT Extended Joint Chairs group. The Teachers’ Side had submitted a pay claim of 10% for teachers at all grades. Commenting, a spokesperson for the Teachers’ Side of the SNCT said, “The Teachers’ Side negotiators have rejected this offer of 2% / 3% for Scotland’s teachers, as it falls far short of the 10% pay claim that was submitted via the SNCT this year. The Teachers’ Side also rejected any notion of a differentiated deal that would award lower pay increases to teachers at some grades compared to colleagues at other grades. The offer that has been proposed by employers fails to deliver on the need to value education and value teachers by delivering appropriate salaries for Scotland’s teaching professionals.”
The spokesperson continued, “There is a growing crisis in teacher recruitment and retention across Scotland, and declining rates of pay is one of the key factors contributing to this problem. Scotland wants and expects the best teaching professionals but, increasingly, is unwilling to pay appropriate professional salaries to the teachers working in our schools. Pay for Scotland’s teachers is continuing to decline in comparison to other graduate professions and to teacher salaries in other European countries. This simply must be rectified.” The spokesperson added, “The Teachers’ Side remains committed to negotiations via the SNCT in the hope of agreeing a fair deal for Scotland’s teachers. Further talks are planned, via the SNCT, following the Spring holiday period. There is a clear expectation, on the part of the Teachers’ Side, that the Scottish Government, a party to the negotiations, will be required to take a view on the ongoing discussions and to play an active role in reaching a settlement.”
(ENDS)
Teachers Pay – April 2018
SSTA Position
The SNCT 2018 Pay Claim was submitted on the 8 February SNCT Pay Claim
Regional Improvement Collaboratives (RICs) for Education (September 2017)
Strategic Board for Teacher Education (SBTE) 21 February 2018
Career Pathways –issues discussed
1+2 Language Implementation Group
Scottish Trade Union Congress (STUC) – Aviemore 16 -18 April 2018
SSTA Motions
Additional Support Needs (Amended by Unison)
“That this Congress notes that data, collected by the Scottish Secondary Teachers’ Association about the numbers of teachers and pupil support assistants working specifically and exclusively within the field of Additional Support Needs in secondary schools, not only reveals a reduction in staff, but is also contradictory and confusing.
“Congress also notes that UNISON’s survey on school support staff showed the immense pressures on those working with children with Additional Support Needs, due to budget cuts and insufficient resources and training. The Scottish Government has a duty to provide funds to ensure the children’s needs are met”.
“Congress requests that the Scottish Government implements the recommendations of the Education & Skills Committee SP Paper 140 published in May 2017 ‘How is Additional Support for Learning Working in Practice?’, which identifies the need for appropriate funding and resources to fully meet legislative requirements of the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004.
“Additionally, Congress calls on the Scottish Government and employers to provide all education professionals including teachers with appropriate training, to ensure that they meet the needs of pupils with Additional Support Needs.”
Education Workforce Council
“Congress recognises the importance of regulatory bodies for maintaining high standards in a number of professions it is alarmed by the Governments intention within the forthcoming Education Bill to dissolve the General Teaching Council Scotland (GTCS) and Community Learning and Development Standards Council for Scotland (CLDSCS) and create an Education Workforce Council (EWC)”.
“The GTCS is an independent, democratic and teacher led organisation that is almost fully funded by teachers’ subscriptions and maintains a register of highly qualified workers. The Government intends that the EWC is created for all education workers (including those not registered with GTCS and CLDSCS) and appoint council members that will undermine the continuation of highly qualified teachers and other professionals”.
“Congress calls on the Scottish Government to set aside its proposals within the Education Bill and engage with education unions on appropriate mechanisms for regulation for education workers”.
STUC General Council – 7 March 2018
2018 ANNUAL CONGRESS
2018 STUC Accounts and Membership
The Labour Market – figures cover the Oct 2017 – Dec 2017 period.
· Unemployment (all aged 16+) increased by 14,000 and now stands at 124,000,
a rise of 4.6%. The unemployment rate (16-64 years) is now 4.1%.
· UK Economy grew by 0.4%, annual growth in 2017 of 1.7%
· Scotland annual growth in 2017 of 0.6%
TUC March and Rally and STUC Activity
· TUC demonstration ‘A new deal for working people’ in London on Saturday 12 May 2018
· STUC to encourage affiliates to offer support to TUC, but
‘Educate, Agitate, Organise’
First Minister meeting STUC General Council – 5 March 2018
Trade Union Act 2016
· Scottish Government and STUC to work jointly to consider developing guidance around Facility Time Reporting and to agree a positive statement to that effect as a matter of urgency given delays in UK Government guidance.
Scottish Budget 2018
Teachers expecting a significant pay increase
Brexit
· Little clarity at present (following meeting with Prime Minister)
· No deal – worst outcome. Opposition to Withdrawal Bill
· Businesses are preparing their plans in 2018 – assess impact for Scotland
Procurement Reform
· Map fair work principles implementation within procurement and the impact on the living wage, blacklisting, insecure work and use of umbrella companies or payroll agencies.
· Ending PFI/NPD, work with public bodies to minimise costs on existing projects including through buying-out schemes where appropriate;
· Consider the merits of establishing a publically owned construction company to take forward key public infrastructure and investment projects;
Fair Work Framework – in all workplaces in Scotland by 2025
· Government strategic approach to drive Fair Work across government
· Effective voice of the worker and collective bargaining in all workplaces
· Government ministers to take responsibility for Fair Work
Adverse Weather
· STUC conducted a survey that highlighted unreasonable demands by employers insisting people get to or remain ignoring police advice
· Workers losing pay for failure to attend and/or asked to use annual leave.
· Unionised workplaces with Health and Safety reps less problems
· Government and STUC to develop a ‘code of practice’ for all employers
Scottish Education Council
· Two meetings so far (24 November 2017 and 10 January 2018)
· Received paper on teacher recruitment and retention
· Year 2 PEF funding discussed
Education Leaders Forum – 6 month cycle- recent meeting at Newbattle HS,
· 70 organisations (including public and 3rd sector)
· 2 workshops on closing the attainment gap and engaging parents
National Improvement Framework – 7 February 2018
External Reference Group (HMI) Workshop – 22 February 2018
Forthcoming Events
SSTA Professional Education Courses
**Dementia Awareness and Understanding Disability courses have been well received by members. Additional courses are being planned for summer term**
