Category: Information for Members

The latest Members’ Bulletin – “Teachers Scotland’s Future” is now available to download.

‘Put pupils first – give teachers time to teach!’

The National Executive issued guidance to members on the first phase of the ‘Action Short of Strike Action’ that began on Monday 24 October. Members are being advised to work within the contracted 35 hour working week. Teacher Workload needs to be reduced in the current session. The SSTA has asked again for urgent action to reduce teacher workload and refocus teachers to teaching and learning. Further guidance will be issued in the coming weeks. Current guidance and presentation available at www.ssta.org.uk

SSTA says ‘Put Pupils First’ in this school year

The SSTA has concerns over the exam burden and the impact on pupil well-being if the current national qualification system is allowed to continue for a further year. The proposed changes for National 5 will not take place until the 2017-2018 session. The SSTA is acutely aware of the workload pressures associated with the National Qualifications but we are extremely concerned about the potential damage to our young people as the pressure intensifies at this time of year”.

Assessment and National Qualifications working group – 2 November

• The CfE Management Board approved the changes to unit assessment within National 5 and Higher. The proposals include a strengthened final exam and externally assessed coursework that will replace mandatory unit assessments for qualifications at National 5 (2017-20180 and Higher level (2018-2019).
• SQA roadmap National 5
  • January 2017 – principle changes (some subjects would have new elements)
  • Easter 2017 – detail of changes
  • August 2017 – specimen papers and coursework
  • Safety net – band E marks 30-39%
• National 4 – further discussion needed but no appetite for an exam. Need to determine the rationale of the National 4 certificate (hub/gateway for all)

Empowering teachers, parents and communities to achieve excellence and equity in education: A Governance Review – consultation closes 6 January

• Focus on supporting decision making in schools, empowering teachers, parents and communities, strengthening ‘the middle’ (clusters, education regions), national framework and professional capacity, fair funding and accountability
• Regional events are being arranged and key stakeholders to be engaged

http://www.gov.scot/Resource/0050/00505460.pdf

• 3 priorities – GIRFEC, Curriculum for Excellence and Developing the Young Workforce.
• Unions have concerns at the short timescale of consultation
• Local Authorities have indicated their concerns about not just concentrating on schools for closing the attainment gap.
• Union response – Collaboration costs time, money, cover and was happening before the cuts. Innovation was also happening in schools when less pressure and demand was on a teacher’s time.
• Local Authorities have had their hands tied for years because of freezing of council tax so support staff, which could make the biggest difference to attainment by supporting the teaching and learning, has been lost to schools.
• The working relationship between LAs and unions has been damaged by the cuts in staff with experience in teachers’ conditions of employment.

Education Scotland: Framework of teaching and benchmarks

• CfE Statement and ‘draft’ Bench Marks published

https://education.gov.scot/improvement/Pages/CfE-delivery-plan.aspx

• To be followed by all subject benchmarks in the coming weeks. No time for meaningful consultation before publication.

Education Scotland: New Inspections

• Inspectorate Development Plan Focus on the learner with full establishment, short, localised thematic and neighbourhood model
• HIGIOS4 – QI (grade using 6 point scale) 1.3 Leadership of Change, 2.3 Learning Teaching and Achievement, 3.2 Raising Achievement and Attainment, 3.1 Ensuring wellbeing, equality and inclusion. Awareness that GIRFEC focus missing plus an additional QI negotiated with school not graded
• Issues – short notice inspections appear to be favoured by schools but are not practical in small rural schools; focus upon local authorities rather than schools; Independent Schools do not have a 6 point scale

National Improvement Framework for Scottish Education – 9 November

• National priorities: a) Literacy and numeracy; b) closing the gap; c) health and well-being; and d) positive destinations

• Teacher professional judgement survey 2016 (formerly known as school data) -Literacy and numeracy judgements in P1, P2, P7 and S3 with National Report and Statistical Report to be published in December. Analysis to be labelled as ‘Experimental’ and will not include school based data.

• Achievement of a level support plans – Education Scotland to arrange training sessions 1) moderation, 2) standards and 3) range of evidence required. Holistic assessment the main focus to assist LAs disseminate to schools

• Standardised assessment update – Preferred bidder to be announced. Pilot carried out 2016-2017 most LAs volunteering to be part of pilot. Roll out date 17 August 2017. It is planned that teachers will be using the assessment when it is right for their pupils. Narrative to be produced for parental engagement
• National Quality Assurance and Moderation programme. LAs have sent 10 teachers for the first part of moderation training. The aim is for these teachers to cascade this information to the colleges in their LAs. Education Scotland have employed 2 NIF advisors to help with this process. Another two advisors are to be appointed. These posts are being funded by Scottish Government.

Scottish Advisory Group on Relationships and Behaviour in Schools (SAGRABIS)

• Behaviour in Scottish Schools Research. Survey in all secondary schools conducted in spring to be published early in February 2017 (study did not take into account existing LA reports of incidents)
• Independent Report Bailey Gwynne. Government to consider amending the law on ‘stop and search’ and the purchase of weapons
• Homophobic Bullying – LGBT Youth Scotland and Stonewall
  • 48% LGBT students said issues not discussed in classroom
  • 90% of teachers stated homophobic bullying took place to all pupils
  • 44% teachers are told not to discuss LGBT issues
  • 80% of teachers had no specific training
  • 60% LGBT students said bullying had an impact in their school work
  • 23% of LGBT pupil has considered taking own life and 53% harmed themselves

Priorities

• All teachers to undertake training
• Supporting Transgender Young People in Education (due March 2017)
• RespectMe (due December 2016)
• Education Champions – 9 LAs (Stonewall Scotland) to be expanded
• Initial Teacher Education – 750 students this year (6/8 institutions)
• Refresh the Toolkit (Education Scotland)
• Professional learning programme and support staff in secondary schools (including a focus on school leaders)
• Inspection Framework to gauge the impact in schools

General Teaching Council

Consultation on fitness to teach process and closes on 29 November 2016

STUC General Council meeting First Minister – 9 November 2016

• Expansion of child care provision. Current consultation raises position of nursery teachers and the introduction of a voucher may undermine quality local authority provision. Quality and workforce conditions of service important factors.
• Living wage in the care sector – STUC a partner group in the implementation
• Economy Scottish economy has remained resilient.
• EU referendum shifted economic sentiment and uncertainty. Negative impact next year makes forecast more difficult
• Impact on FE College sector on reduction in part-time and access into work (50% drop in female participation) to be considered further
• Fall in sterling (has boosted exports) and low inflation rate but will lead to a rise in prices next year. Will have an Impact on pension schemes, pay and living standards
• EU Referendum Vote Lack of information on Westminster strategy on ‘Brexit’.
• Employment rights and social protections under threat need to work closely with STUC. Lack of awareness on implications need ‘user friendly’ material
• Impact in Higher Education and research without free movement of people
• Increase in racism and ‘racist’ incidents need to be challenged and all people welcomed in Scotland
• Fair Work Convention Labour market strategy working with STUC
• Fair work framework, the ‘effective voice’ through trade unions and the importance of collective bargaining
• Launch of £250,000 Trade Union Modernisation Fund
• Trade Union Act, non-compliance of elements of the Act including ballot threshold. Further discussion to take place
• UK Sexual Offences (Pardons etc.) Bill 2016-17Scottish Government to legislate as quickly asap for automatic pardons and removal from personal records

 

Scottish Union Learning Conference 2016 – 8 November 2016

• Titled ‘Organising Union Learning: Developing Workforce Skills’
• Speaker Jamie Hepburn MSP, Minister for Employability and Training.
• Trade union learning key part of partnership in developing the ‘Fair Work’ agenda
• The Scottish Government to continue supporting this programme with almost £2.3 million this financial year. This will support around 3,000 learners
• A further £250,000 for a trade union modernisation fund to retain and enhance the role of trade unions in the workplace

Scottish Trades Union Congress

• Public Finance and Public Services Conference on Friday 25 November 2016

Agenda to include Fair Work, Scotland’s Budget, Tax and Public Services, Local Government Budgets, Privatisation and Arm’s Length Delivery.

• St Andrew’s Day March and Rally – Saturday 26 November, Glasgow

– Theme “No Racism: Protecting Rights, Defending Communities”

Trade Union Advisory Committee/Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD – 35 countries) October 2016

Education at a Glance 2016

• Skills mismatch, no evidence of over-schooling, more educated insulated against unemployment
• 17% of 20-24 year olds Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEETs) and 25% of employed youth were in temporary or part-time employment
• Teachers’ salaries – have been frozen until recently coupled with aging workforce means that increasingly young people are not being attracted into education professions because of comparatively poor salaries.
• The number of secondary teachers over the age of 50 is increasing in more than two-thirds of countries (34% in lower secondary and 38% in upper secondary)
• Within teaching gender imbalance the percentage of female teacher shrinks – but teacher salaries tend to increase. Women are less likely to become headteachers even they are recruited from the ranks of teachers.
• Class sizes decreasing in three-quarter of countries – increasing in the UK

http://www.oecd.org/edu/education-at-a-glance-19991487.htm

PISA (Programme for Internal Student Assessment)

• Information on 15 year olds, and assess education system.
• 2015 PISA – to be published on 6 December 2016.
• Main focus on Science (explain phenomena scientifically; evaluate and design scientific enquiry; interpret data and evidence scientifically)
• Less of a focus on Maths and Reading
• 2018 PISA. Main focus Reading (growth in online reading ; emphasis on reading skills; and basic reading comprehension) and less focus on Maths and Science

Inequality and Gender Gaps

• OECD Gender Initiative (2013) – Closing gender gap in educational attainment and labour force participation.
• Not to act would lead to drop in labour force participation. Report due in 2017
• Young women have higher attainment than young men in tertiary education.
• Women do more unpaid work (around the home) leading to less opportunity for paid employment

 

The SSTA National Executive has sanctioned the ‘Action Short of Strike Action’ (ASOSA) and has confirmed the name of our campaign “Put pupils first – give teachers time to teach!”

Please find below the ASOSA Guidance to Members and a link to a video message from the General Secretary.

A more detailed presentation of the ASOSA Guidance will be issued to School Representatives at the start of next week.

The ASOSA Guidance is being issued to Local Authorities and should be discussed at the forthcoming LNCT meeting.

 

SSTA BALLOT RESULT

The National Executive is very much aware of the efforts of the Deputy First Minister to address Teacher Workload and promote Teacher Professional Judgement. However, Teacher Workload needs to be reduced in the current session. The SSTA has asked again for urgent action to reduce teacher workload and refocus teachers to teaching and learning and closing the attainment gap.

91% in favour of tacking Action Short of Strike Action. 40.8% Turnout.

SSTA Council

• John Swinney Deputy First Minister (DFM) attended SSTA Council – 1 October
• Vision for Education – ‘Closing the Gap’
• Essential elements – GIRFEC, CfE and Developing Young Workforce
• Interaction with young people important and decluttering the system
• CfE statement (29 August) what is expected of teachers
• The Inspection of LAs on tackling bureaucracy report. COSLA to take steps to act promptly on Bureaucracy Report and follow-up to assess performance
• Qualifications – too much assessment, of not sufficient value, anxiety of parents re: young people, assessment burden in S4. Nat 4 work needed to give validity
• Minister asked for more time to ‘fix things’
• Opportunity for teachers to slim-down bureaucracy
• Valuable resources into schools and decisions taken in school

Assessment and National Qualifications working group

• The CfE Management Board approved the changes to unit assessment within National 5 and Higher. The proposals include a strengthened final exam and externally assessed coursework that will replace mandatory unit assessments for qualifications at National 5 and Higher level.
• The reforms are intended to be introduced on a phased basis, with changes to National 5 implemented in 2017-2018 and changes to Higher in 2018-2019

http://news.scotland.gov.uk/News/Refocusing-national-qualifications-2b7d.aspx

Education Delivery Plan

The Delivery Plan sets outs the actions required to close the attainment gap over the next five years. It will involve further sustained pressure to reduce workload for teachers.

The plan confirms the Scottish Government will:

• Focus on closing the attainment gap by extending the Scottish Attainment Challenge over the next five years.
• Launch a governance and funding review to examine the system changes required to empower schools, devolving funding and more decision-making to schools and communities.
• Simplify Curriculum for Excellence and streamline the current range of curriculum guidance for teachers, and introduce a simpler set of key resources for the profession by January 2017.
• Invest in teachers and their skills to ensure we have highly qualified and empowered staff.
• Move from a “culture of judgement” to a “system of judgement” to provide robust information on the education system to support improvement.
  http://www.gov.scot/Resource/0050/00502222.pdf

Empowering teachers, parents and communities to achieve excellence and equity in education: A Governance Review – consultation closes 6 January

• Focus on supporting decision making in schools
• Empowering teachers, parents and communities
• Strengthening ‘the middle’ (clusters, education regions)
• National framework and professional capacity
• Fair funding – learner-centred funding
• Accountability

(Regional events are being arranged and key stakeholders to be engaged)
http://www.gov.scot/Resource/0050/00505460.pdf

Education Scotland: Local Authority review on measures to reduce workload

• Inspectors looked at: what support and guidance for schools and teachers the local authority had in place; what the local authority required schools and teachers to do; and any specific guidance the local authority had provided on how to reduce bureaucracy/workload.
•    The issues to be covered will include, in the context of both the broad general education (early years, primary and S1 to S3) and the senior phase:
  • forward and curriculum planning;
  • assessment, including national qualifications;
  • tracking, monitoring and reporting;
  • self-evaluation and improvement planning; and
  • IT systems.

https://education.gov.scot/improvement/Documents/Review-of-Local-Authorities.pdf

Education Scotland: Framework of teaching and benchmarks

• CfE Statement and ‘draft’ Bench Marks published
  https://education.gov.scot/improvement/Pages/CfE-delivery-plan.aspx

“The suite of documents provides clear, practical advice for teachers and practitioners on planning learning, teaching and assessment.  This streamlined approach includes a definitive Statement on Curriculum for Excellence and benchmarks to support learning, teaching and assessment in literacy/English and numeracy/mathematics”.

SSTA Survey response, 68% SSTA members said the document would not have an impact in reducing teacher workload. A further 14% said the document would actually increase their workload. Little impact in Secondary Schools

International Council of Education Advisor’s

• Panel to meet twice a year with two year tenure
• Business representative included but no trade union representative

http://news.scotland.gov.uk/News/International-education-panel-confirmed-26f8.aspx#downloads

Teacher Panel

• Members nominated by Education Scotland and the Scottish College for Education Leadership and are drawn from 14 local authority areas
• The class teacher panel will ‘test’ the programme for reducing workload in schools

Education Scotland: New Inspections

New inspection models to suit particular circumstances and contexts to be introduced in a phased approach from August 2016. The inspection models are:

• Full inspection model
• Short inspection model
• Localised thematic model
• Neighbourhood model

The HGIOS4 Quality Indicators to be evaluated on the six-point scale in full school inspections and have been re-focused to align with the new National Improvement Framework. They are:

1.3 Leadership of Change

2.3 Learning, Teaching and Assessment

3.2 Raising Attainment and Achievement

3.1 Ensuring Wellbeing, Equality and Inclusion

National Improvement Framework for Scottish Education

• National priorities: a) Literacy and numeracy; b) closing the gap; c) health and well-being; and d) positive destinations
• Teacher professional judgement survey 2016 (formerly known as school data) -Literacy and numeracy judgements in P1, P2, P7 and S3 with National Report and Statistical Report to be published in December
• Achievement of a level support plans – Education Scotland to arrange training sessions 1) moderation, 2) standards and 3) range of evidence required. Holistic assessment the main focus to assist LAs disseminate to schools
• Standardised assessment update – Preferred bidder to be announced in October. Pilot carried out 2016-2017 most LAs volunteering to be part of pilot
• Statutory Guidance – consultation until 11 November to be introduced in 2017
  https://consult.scotland.gov.uk/strategy-and-performance-unit/statutory-guidance

Digital Learning and Teaching Strategy for Scotland – published

• Improving access to digital technology for all learners
• Empowering leaders of change to drive innovation and investment in digital technology for learning and teaching
• Ensuring curriculum and assessment relevance in a digital context
• Extending the skills and confidence of teachers in the appropriate and effective use of digital technology
  http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2016/09/9494

Scottish Parliament – Education and Skills Committee

SSTA has been asked to submit a paper and give evidence to the Committee as undertakes pre-budget scrutiny on the performance:

• Scottish Qualifications Authority and Education Scotland.

General Teaching Council

Consultation on fitness to teach process and closes on 29 November 2016

Scottish Trades Union Congress

• Public Finance and Public Services Conference on Friday 14 October 2016. Agenda to include Fair Work, Scotland’s Budget, Tax and Public Services, Local Government Budgets, Privatisation and Arm’s Length Delivery.
• STUC Organising Conference on Friday 11 November 2016.  Trade unions at the heart of the Fair Work in a Just Scotland, organising around occupational health and safety, and precarious employment
• 2016 Women’s Congress – 28 & 29 October, Perth
• 2017 and 2018 Annual Congress to be at the MacDonald Aviemore Resort
• St Andrew’s Day March and Rally – Saturday 26 November, Glasgow
  – Theme “No Racism: Protecting Rights, Defending Communities”

 

The Ballot for Industrial Action closed at 12 noon on Friday 30 September.  The SSTA National Executive  and SSTA Council will be meeting to consider the result of the ballot on Friday 30 September and Saturday 1 October respectively.  A statement will be issued to members on Monday 3 October.

 

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SSTA National Executive has set the date for the start of the formal postal ballot for Industrial Action on reducing Teacher Workload. The Ballot will commence on the 14 September and close on 30 September. All members employed by Local Authorities will be balloted.

The question on the ballot paper will be  “Would you be prepared to take ‘action short of strike action’ to reduce teacher workload?”

The SSTA recommends that members Vote Yes for ‘action short of strike action’.

Ballot Papers will be sent out to home addresses by Electoral Reform Services on the 14th of September.  If you are unsure if we have the correct home address for you, please update your details by completing an online form or by emailing info@ssta.org.uk.

A poster being sent to school representatives for display on notices board.  A PDF of the poster can be downloading by click on the image below.

 

 

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https://ssta.org.uk/2016/06/ssta-moves-industrial-action-ballot-cut-teacher-workload/