1 August Pay Settlement Date – Missed
The SNCT Teachers’ Side met today to discuss the next steps in resolving this year’s pay settlement. A pay settlement was due on 1 August 2024 and COSLA, after 6 months of reminders from the Teachers’ Side, made an unacceptable initial offer in June. With the summer break arriving, there was no offer tabled for the due date of 1 August.
An improved pay offer for this year has failed to materialise and the teacher unions are preparing to put pressure on the employers and the government to make an acceptable offer that can be put to members. The SNCT Teachers’ Side has committed to move forward together to achieve an acceptable pay offer. The recent pay award of 5.5% for teachers in England will only add more pressure for a pay offer that moves in the direction of restoring teacher pay levels.
Paul Cochrane SSTA Salaries and Working Conditions Convener said.
“COSLA claim that the Scottish Government has identified additional funding to settle Local Government pay claims and we have taken this at face value and the Teachers’ Side has granted a limited extension until the 2 September 2024 for a new, acceptable offer to be tabled. Although the situation is unsatisfactory, we are willing to show goodwill and optimism towards COSLA in the hope that September brings a satisfactory offer. COSLA repeatedly emphasises that it values teachers. We now await an offer that demonstrates this”.
The SNCT Teacher Side has issued a statement today:
“The Teachers’ Panel of the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers (SNCT) met today to consider the lack of a revised pay offer from local authority employers in the 2024/25 pay negotiations, despite assurances previously given that all efforts were being made to reach a timeous agreement and ensure that the settlement would be paid to teachers on time.
The Teachers’ Panel submitted its 2024/25 pay claim in January 2024. However, the new 1st August 2024 salary uplift implementation date for Scottish teachers, previously agreed by both COSLA and the Scottish Government, has now passed. Since January, COSLA has only tabled one offer, completely lacking in credibility, that was unanimously rejected by the Teachers’ Panel on 5th June 2024.
Any further delay in making a revised offer, which recognises and begins to meaningfully address the real terms decline in the value of teachers’ pay, following the meeting of COSLA Leader on 30th August 2024 is completely unacceptable, and the Teachers’ Panel has today unanimously decided that if no further offer is made by 12 noon on Monday 2nd September, a formal dispute will be declared.
The Teachers’ Panel urges both COSLA and the Scottish Government to avoid this escalation by undertaking all work necessary to table a credible pay offer for Scottish teachers without delay.“
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Class Size – The Rules
The maximum number of pupils in a secondary class is defined in the SNCT Handbook (Part 2 – Appendix 2.9). The maximum number of pupils in S1 and S2 is 33. The maximum number in S3 to S6 is 30. There is a misunderstanding in some quarters that because S3 sits within BGE that classes in S3 can be above 30.
The maximum class sizes for special schools and units are between 6 and 10 dependent upon the additional support needs defined in the SNCT Handbook. However, whenever the needs of the individual pupils are considered this may require classes to be further reduced.
All subjects classed as practical have a maximum of 20 in all age secondary age groups. Practical classes are those in which the following subjects are taught – Administration and IT, Art and Design, Biology, Chemistry, Design and Manufacture, Engineering Science, Environmental Science, Graphic Communication, Health and Food Technology, Hospitality: Practical Cookery, Hospitality: Practical Cake Craft, Land and Environment, Physics, Practical Craft Skills, Practical Electronics, Practical Metalworking, Practical Woodworking, Science.
At present the SNCT is considering including Music and Drama to the practical list but unfortunately, negotiations at the SNCT tend to be quite slow moving. An important factor in the process is the ‘risk to the pupil’ and not the extensive teacher workload generated by the subject.
All details of maximum class sizes can be found here.
Advice: Any member who is teaching classes beyond the maximum class size or being pressured to take larger classes due the shortage of subject specialists should advise their headteacher of the rules contained in the SNCT Handbook and contact the SSTA at info@ssta.org.uk for further advice.
Acting Appointments
Where a teacher is appointed on a temporary basis to carry out the duties of a promoted postholder in a school, pending a permanent appointment to the promoted post or in place of a teacher who is temporarily absent, the teacher’s salary is increased to the salary for the post.
If the teacher is already employed in that school, there is no additional salary entitlement until she/he has been in the acting post for 20 working days. The 20 days do not have to be consecutive. Once the teacher has been employed for 20 working days, payment is made for those 20 days and every subsequent day employed in the post.
Should the teacher is again employed in an acting capacity in the same post, and six months has elapsed since the teacher left the post, the 20 working day requirement will apply once more.
All details can be found here
Health and Safety Representative Training – Reminder
The SSTA is holding a Health and Safety Rep Training day on Friday 13 September at the Stirling Court Hotel. To register for a place at the training day, please complete the registration form on the SSTA website
Please note: All Health and Safety representatives are entitled to paid time off to attend training. It is your employer’s duty to allow it under the Safety Representatives and Safety Committees Regulations 1977
Member Services – FREE to all members
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Full details of available Members Services can be found at www.ssta.org.uk/services
