The SSTA National Council has sanctioned an Indicative Ballot of members on the Government’s Assessment and National Qualification working group report due at the end of March.

The Indicative Ballot of members will be sent out by e-mail with a unique voting code.  To ensure that all members who are eligible to a vote receive an email, we are asking that members who have not been receiving emails from the Association contact the SSTA office by emailing info@ssta.org.uk or by calling 0131 313 7300 with a note of their email address(es).

Background

Following a survey of members in December 2015 which clearly found that the SQA requirements and processes had added considerably, and in many cases unnecessarily, to teacher’s workload, the SSTA Council resolved to conduct an indicative ballot of members on cutting bureaucracy in National Qualifications.

The Government established the ‘Assessment and National Qualification working group’ in January and was tasked to produce a report, by the end of March that would reduce teacher workload in the 2016-17 cycle. The SSTA participated in the working group and pushed hard for the recognition of the importance of the teachers’ professional judgement in the process. The working group report was completed on 21 April and has been circulated to members of the CfE Management Board. Until the CfE Management Board meets the report cannot be published to teachers in schools.

The SSTA National Executive has considered the report and has sought clarifications of the measures proposed within the report to reduce teacher workload in the 2016-17 cycle. The SSTA National Executive has prepared a report for members of the proposals and is seeking members’ views on the extent of the workload reductions.