The SSTA fully supports the principles of ‘Getting it Right for Every Child’ and the role of the ‘Named Person’.

Seamus Searson, SSTA General Secretary said “We know that mothers, fathers and carers are with a few exceptions, the best people to raise their children. This proposed legislation supports families, providing improved access to services while maintaining parental rights and responsibilities”.

“A Named Person helps children and families get the right support at the right time from the right people. It does not replace or change the role of parents and carers, or undermine families. The ‘Named Person’ approach is not new. It is already operating across Scotland. However, the legislation is embedding best practice into law so that children and young people are receiving the best support and not left to the vagaries of different parts of Scotland”.

“Teachers are used to handling sensitive, confidential information about children such as school records for pupils – and already have robust procedures to protect data. These new duties will not change this”.

“Effective communication, including sharing relevant information where appropriate, is essential to ensure children, young people and families get the right help at the right time from the right services. In most circumstances, the child or young person and parents will know what information is being shared, with whom and for what purpose and their views will be taken into account. However this may not happen in exceptional cases, such as where there is a concern for a child’s protection/safety.

“Teachers always want the best for the children and young people in their care and the SSTA believes that the ‘Named Person’ legislation is the best way forward and everybody should put all their efforts into making it work”

Further information from:

Seamus Searson
General Secretary

0131 313 7300

7 March 2016
Scottish Secondary Teachers’ Association
West End House
14 West End Place
Edinburgh
EH11 2ED

Seamus Searson, SSTA General Secretary said “the SSTA is acutely aware of the workload pressures associated with the National Qualifications but is extremely concerned as to the potential damage on our young people as the pressure intensifies at this time of year”.

“Self-harm is a deliberate injury to oneself, typically as a manifestation of mental health and welfare issues. Often, the first thing that springs to mind is a forearm or a wrist covered in lacerations. Obviously, it can take the form of any physical injury anywhere on the body. This leaves a trace, physical evidence of self-harm. Unfortunately, it is not the only evidence. There is evidence that a rising numbers of pupils are being identified as self-harming”.

The BBC published an article on the 17th February 2015 with the headline:

‘Self-harm Among Children in Scotland on the Rise’. This reports an increase in hospital admissions for self-harm across the last 5 years. It states that last year, 563 under-18s were admitted for self-harm in Scotland. In 2014, more than a third of the 76 admissions to NHS Highlands’ hospitals involved 15 year olds.

ChildLine Scotland reported, in February 2015, that counselling sessions with 12 to 15 year olds on self-harm had increased by 20% in the last year.

A 2014 report by the Edinburgh based mental health charity, Penumbra, revealed that – since 2009 – there has been an increase of 166% in the number of referrals it has received. Nigel Henderson, chief executive of Penumbra, called these figures just the tip of the iceberg. He said “Problems at school, parental pressure to succeed or feelings of low self-esteem, alongside changes in local authorities’ services, welfare reform and local youth unemployment may all have had an impact on the figures”.

Seamus Searson added “How much self-harm goes undetected? How much, like the iceberg, remains hidden under the surface? We cannot afford to take the mental health and wellbeing of our pupils for granted simply because there are no outward indicators of self-harm. For me, self-harm is not just the cuts on the forearm. It’s looking in the mirror and chastising yourself for what you see. It’s the abuse of alcohol and drugs as a means to escape. It’s the emotional suffering exacerbated by stress and a feeling that you can’t cope. Self-harm is all these things and more”.

“The causes of self-harm are wide and varied. But equally, we have to accept that school, the curriculum, the at times unrelenting internal assessment of our 15 and 16 year olds between January and April is a contributing factor to pupil stress and can damage pupil welfare”.

“How do we, as a teacher profession, respond to it? Teachers can question the pointless and often invalid assessment burdens. Teachers question the frequency and intensity of assessment faced by our 15 and 16 year olds sitting N4 and N5.

A typical example of the ‘average’ pupil in S4 (the teacher would have to work hard not to miss in amongst the 29 other bodies in the room). She is sitting 6 subjects in S4 and in some schools she could be sitting 7 or more.

Our ‘typical’ S4 pupil could be taking 3 subjects at National 4. This could be Modern Studies, Biology and Maths that includes 3 unit assessments and an Added Value assignment for each subject.

In addition, she could be taking 3 subjects at National 5. This could be History (3 unit assessments and an Added Value assignment), Music (3 units encompassing between 4 and 6 assessments altogether with the performance element taken into account) and English (2 units, comprising 4 assessed elements and a N4 Added Value assignment thrown in as a fall back.

In short, at best, she faced 24 assessments or assignments – the majority of which were crowbarred in-between January and April.

An SSTA English teacher said “Every time I introduce a unit assessment, an AV unit, a folio piece, a prelim, a exam, I can see the anxiety writ large across our pupils faces. There are relevant assessments, the ones that hone the skills necessary for exams, for progression within the subject, for entering the workplace. Unfortunately, others, whether in full or in part, are NOT necessary for the exam, NOT valuable for progression, NOT developing skills for work and these are the pointless assessments”.

Euan Duncan, SSTA President concluded “Teachers have been, by and large, left to develop courses and assessments as they teach them. This overbearing stress that experienced professionals, as adults, are struggling with and that stress is unintentionally, yet undeniably, being transferred and transmitted on to our pupils. The Government and the SQA need to review its current assessment requirements and accept the gathering of naturally occurring pupil’s classwork and the use of teacher’s professional judgement are sufficient and reduce the pressure on our pupils and the threat of self-harm.”

Further information from:

Seamus Searson
General Secretary

0131 313 7300

15 February 2016

Low Teacher Confidence with New Qualifications

The SSTA has completed a survey of its members as to the level of confidence in implementing the new Higher Qualifications. The response from members has indicated a low level of confidence in teachers’ ability to deliver and assess their pupils in the New Qualifications.

Seamus Searson, SSTA General Secretary said, “The situation that teachers face in schools today in trying to do the best for their young people is extremely worrying. Teachers are lacking confidence in a major part of their work and there appears to be a lack of understanding or realisation of those bodies that are there to help deliver the new qualifications.

“Teachers are again trying to make the system work despite the lack of support whilst bureaucracy is continuing to increase. Teachers cannot be expected to continue to work under these conditions”.

The survey shows that 40% of teachers lack confidence in their abilities to deliver appropriate course materials for the New Higher and 75% in Advanced Higher. In relation to teachers ability to assess their pupils 59% lack confidence in New Higher and 85% in Advance Higher.

• New Higher Qualifications: confidence in the ability to deliver appropriate course materials - 33% not confident and 7% not confident at all
• New Higher Qualifications: confidence in the ability to assess your pupils - 12% not confident and 47% not confident at all
• New Advanced Higher Qualifications: confidence in the ability to deliver appropriate course materials - 39% not confident and 36% not confident at all
• New Advanced Higher Qualifications: confidence in the ability to assess your pupils - 44% not confident and 41% not confident at all

When it came to the satisfaction of teachers with the various bodies that are there to support teachers in implementing the New Qualifications the survey highlighted the apparent ineffectiveness of these agencies.

Satisfaction with sources of support in implementing the New Qualifications:

Education Scotland – not satisfied 54%
SQA – not satisfied 63%
Local Authority – not satisfied 58%
School – not satisfied 34%

Comments made by SSTA members

“At no point in the working week do I feel absolutely confident that changes have not been made to the arrangement documents. I dread glancing at my email during the day, only to find that some change or other has been made because I have not time nor opportunity to find out what I should now know and do.”

“There is a lack of time to develop new material or, indeed, to get my head around the differences between the old Higher and the new Higher Modern Studies course. Moreover, there is a lack of resources and we are constantly reminded of our budgetary constraints and the need, therefore, to cut down on photocopying and printing.”

“It's us on the ground that are creating these courses based on very vague information from the SQA, no support from anyone else. All work created that is supposed to help always comes a year too late (understanding standards events for example). No consistency in anything, all depends on who you speak to and what council they work for.”

“I am confident because I have a principal teacher who is a workaholic and spends a great deal of his time preparing material. However, this should not be how it has to be. Many teachers have a family and are sacrificing work life balance for the kids they teach!”

“The amount of re-assessment is around three times than it was under the previous system and re-assessment materials are not easily available. Instead teachers are having to spend vast amounts of time generating re-assessment questions.”

“More than ever I am relying on the informal network of contacts I have established throughout my career. This is particularly important in subjects with single teacher departments housed in larger faculties where development work rests with one person.”

“I have been teaching for over 30 years and have never felt so ill prepared and low in confidence in my ability to deliver courses.”

Euan Duncan, SSTA President said

“The high level of response to this survey highlights the inconsistencies that exist between departments, schools and local authorities. It is a matter of serious concern that teachers are not feeling confident and ready to assess the exam work of young people. With workload at an all-time high it is hardly surprising that teachers are continuing to report damagingly high levels of work-related stress. While this has been recognised by government and employers, there is an urgent need for employers, SQA and Education Scotland to move beyond statements of support into real, tangible, recognisable action.”
Further information from
Seamus Searson
General Secretary
0131 313 7300

18 January 2016

Please note that the survey was taken over a two week period with 1244 responses

The SSTA is to conduct an Indicative Survey of its members on the bureaucratic burden associated with the implementation of the New Qualifications. This is in response to SSTA members across Scotland asking for some action to be taken to address the workload that is demoralising teachers in the current qualification cycle.

Seamus Searson, SSTA General Secretary said “the situation that many teachers face in schools today in trying to do the best for their young people is intolerable. SSTA has listened to members and wants to put in measures to protect them and take teachers away from the bureaucratic mountain and return them to teaching and learning”.

Seamus Searson added “the indicative survey will confirm the association’s view that the current situation cannot be allowed to continue and that new manageable arrangements need to be put in place for this year. The survey in January will highlight measures that teachers can take to reduce workload. Together with our new qualifications and workload survey we will have sufficient evidence to bring about real change.”

The SSTA is currently surveying its members as to their confidence in delivering the New Qualifications. Initial returns indicate that 40% of teachers lack confidence in their ability to deliver the new Higher (Nat 6) qualifications with nearly 50% lacking confidence in their ability to assess the same qualifications. These figures increased to 75% and 84% respectively for the Advanced Higher Qualifications.

The survey is showing that teachers are being required to teach different courses within the same class at the same time. 48% were teaching two courses (e.g. N4 and N5), 24% teaching three courses and 3% teaching 4 courses.

When it came to the additional time required for completing the various tasks required by the SQA:

• Internal moderation - 25% of teachers were spending more than 10 hours with a further 15% of teachers spending more than 20 hours per course.
• External verification - 19% of teachers were spending more than 10 hours with 8% spending more than 20 hours.
• Marking Unit Assessments – 32% of teachers were spending more than 10 hours with 54% spending more than 20 hours
• Marking Added Value Units – 31% of teachers were spending more than 10 hours with 34% spending more than 20 hours
• Data entry – 27% of teachers were spending more than 10 hours with 18% spending more than 20 hours

However, when it came to the Working Time Agreements that identify the contractual work required of teachers 81% said they had not been given any additional time to complete the tasks. The findings of the completed survey will be released next week.

Comments made by SSTA members

“Over assessment has created serious workload issues, taking away from teaching and is very demoralising for pupils”

“In 30 years of teaching I have never experienced stress levels and workload issues like I have in the past few years. I feel sorry for the young teachers coming into the profession as their work/life balance is extremely poor”.

“The amount of paperwork surrounding each qualification and the micromanagement of assessment standards is beyond ridiculous”.

Euan Duncan, SSTA President said

“This survey is highlighting the challenge teachers having been dealing with in delivering the new qualifications and the lack of understanding that SQA and employers have in addressing teacher workload. It appears that assessment is being carried out for assessment’s sake and that teachers are not being allowed to develop their teaching”.

Further information from

Seamus Searson
General Secretary
0131 313 7300

The SSTA welcomes the refusal of the challenge to legislation to a named person for every child in Scotland.

The SSTA agrees with the statement made by Lord Carloway “Essentially all that the legislation does, and is intended to do, is to provide for every child and his or her family a suitably qualified professional who can, if necessary, act as a single point of contact between the child and any public service from which the child could benefit.”

Seamus Searson General Secretary said “we do see the value of the Named Person legislation. The legislation does not undermine the role of the parent but help to support the parent. The SSTA continues to support the Government and looks forward to continue working with children and young people and their family’s to enable them to acquire an individualised support package that will meet their needs.

“The SSTA commends the aim of the ‘Named Person’ in supporting the young person and enhancing their health and wellbeing and educational outcomes. The SSTA welcomes this decision and acknowledging that we (the Scottish Government and partners) must now move forward with implementing the legislation. However, we must ensure that teachers are properly trained and given sufficient time to undertake this extremely important role.

Further information from

Seamus Searson
General Secretary

0131 313 7300

3 September 2015

Euan Duncan
President

Press Release - President Elected 27 May 15

Scotland’s only specialist union for Secondary Teachers, the Scottish Secondary Teachers' Association, has recently selected North Ayrshire teacher Euan Duncan as its new President. Euan was elected unopposed following a call for nominations from the Association’s districts throughout Scotland.

Seamus Searson, SSTA General Secretary said "I would like to congratulate Euan on his successful election as President and wish him every success in a period where education in Scotland is at the forefront of the political agenda. Euan's experience as a secondary school teacher and as an SSTA negotiating officer will be invaluable in the coming years".

A graduate of Durham University, Euan holds postgraduate qualifications from the University of the West of Scotland and Strathclyde University. After an early start in banking, Euan turned to teaching and began his teaching career at Irvine Royal Academy in 1994. Shortly afterwards he took up a permanent post teaching Religious and Moral Education at Kilwinning Academy in North Ayrshire where he has been Principal Teacher of Pastoral Support for the last decade.

Since turning to teaching Euan has been a member of the SSTA, taking up the role of school representative early in his career.   More recently he has been a member of SSTA Council and National Executive. For the last two years Euan has been Convener of the SSTA’s Salaries and Conditions of Service Committee and has represented the SSTA at the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers. He has had a brief spell as Vice President of the Association.

Married with three school-age children, Euan aspires to have the same ambition for all his pupils as he has for his own. An active Christian and self-taught DJ, Euan enjoys making music, cycling, hiking and dinghy sailing.

Euan said, “The SSTA has a strong, effective team serving members throughout Scotland and I look forward to pursuing my work with that team. With the determination of Education Secretary Angela Constance to close the attainment gap, the immediate future is going to be a stimulating time for anyone involved in Scottish education. SSTA members continue to be concerned with deprivation and its impact on learning; there is no doubt that they want to carry on with their commitment to advancing education in Scotland. But with dwindling resources, and reserves depleted by the massive effort to bring about curricular and assessment changes, the big question will be how to sustain that advance. After all, teacher working conditions are pupil learning conditions.”

Further information from

Seamus Searson
General Secretary
0131 313 7300

The SSTA General Secretary Seamus Searson and incoming Vice President Euan Duncan met with the Cabinet Secretary, Angela Constance, to discuss the compelling evidence in the SSTA survey to seek an extension for the new Advanced Highers to be run in tandem with the existing qualifications for an extra year.

Seamus Searson said “the survey confirms the view of many secondary school teachers that more time is needed to bring about these important changes. However, the Minister maintained her position that there would not be an extension of the existing system beyond this year”.

Seamus Searson, went on to say “there will be thousands of teachers disappointed by the Minister’s decision as the overriding issue for SSTA members is that the young people following the existing qualification could be disadvantaged in the switch to the new examination”.

Euan Duncan said “the SSTA survey clearly showed that secondary teachers lacked confidence in their ability to deliver examination materials for new Higher Qualifications (54%) and in assessment procedures for the new Higher (68%). The Minister was of the view that to extend the existing qualification would be too disruptive for schools”.

Seamus Searson added “the SSTA is of the view that to allow schools to delay the implementation of the new Advanced Higher by one year would only be a continuation of the existing situation and would have no impact on schools. There could be a small inconvenience to the Scottish Qualification Agency (SQA) but its role is to support schools and seek the best outcomes of Students. I hope the SQA would agree that the students must come first”.

Further information from

Seamus Searson
General Secretary
0131 313 7300