Report of the General Secretary 80th Annual Congress of the SSTA Friday, 9 May 2025 Opening Remarks Good afternoon, President, distinguished guests, and esteemed delegates of Congress. It is with profound gratitude, and a deep sense of duty, that I stand before you today, having once again been entrusted with the role of General Secretary. Over the past ten years, I’ve had the privilege of serving this organization through a time of significant change. And as we look ahead, it…

SSTA 80th Annual Congress Stirling Court Hotel, Stirling Friday 9th May 2025 Presidential Address: Stuart Hunter Introduction Distinguished guests, sister professional associations from these islands, Past Presidents and to all of our delegates from districts and areas of Scotland, welcome to our 80th Annual Congress. Eighty One Years ago, a number of Secondary teachers left the EIS to form the Scottish Secondary Teachers Association, an association dedicated to being the voice of secondary teachers, that dedication has been strictly adhered…

SSTA Congress 2025The 80th SSTA Annual Congress is taking place on Friday 9 and Saturday 10 May at the Stirling Court Hotel. SSTA delegates from across Scotland will be gathering to debate important issues and make SSTA policy. Issues to be debated includes National Qualifications, ASN, Teacher Health and Wellbeing, Improvements to Family Leave, School Inspections, and Teacher Workload.In addition, to the Presidents and General Secretary’s address to Congress, Jenny Gilruth, Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills and Pauline Stephen Chief…

SNCT Teachers’ Side Meeting  The next SNCT Teachers’ Side meeting will take place on Monday 17 March 2025 to consider the lack of progress on a pay offer and the reduction on class contact time. Despite a series of meetings to try and progress these issues little progress has been made. A formal pay claim for a 6% undifferentiated pay rise for all SNCT salary scale points was made on the 14 February . It is understood that COSLA Leaders…

Formal Dispute Declared   Failure to move forward on the Reduction in Teacher Contact Time (90 minutes) The SSTA and the other teacher unions gave notice to the employers that the SNCT Teachers’ Side would move to a formal trade dispute if no proposal to introduce a reduction in teacher class contact time was received by Monday 3 February. The deadline passed and the SNCT Teachers’ Side met on Friday 7 February and declared a dispute. Please follow link SNCT Teachers’ Side…

SNCT Pay Claim 2025-2026 The SSTA Salaries and Conditions Committee will be presenting a case for a restorative pay claim for 2025-2026 at the SNCT Teachers’ Side meeting on Friday. The SSTA position is for a pay claim that is above the 3.5% Consumer Price Inflation (CPI) figure plus a significant % increase in restoring teacher salaries to the ‘true’ value seen in the past. The SNCT Teachers’ Side (the teacher unions) will agree a pay claim and seek early negotiations…

Deadline Passed and COSLA has Failed to Act Reduction in Teacher Contact Time (90 minutes)  The SSTA and the other teacher unions gave notice to the employers that the SNCT Teachers’ Side would move to a formal trade dispute if no proposal to introduce a reduction in teacher class contact time was received by Monday 3 February. The deadline has passed and the SNCT Teachers’ Side will be meeting on Friday to move the dispute forward. The Scottish Government committed to a…

We wish to advise members following a formal postal ballot, Paul Cochrane (Inverclyde) has been elected as SSTA Vice-President for 2025-2027.   Paul is a Science teacher, is the SSTA District Secretary for Inverclyde and Convenor of the SSTA Salaries and Conditions of Service Committee. Paul said in his election statement Paul Cochrane “Only the SSTA delivers the specialist secondary representation that teachers deserve. I have been fortunate to have been trusted to support members’ views as a school representative and on…

Reduction in Teacher Contact Time (90 minutes) - Deadline Approaches and COSLA needs to Act The Scottish Government committed to a reduction in teacher class contact time from 22.5 hours to 21 hours. This commitment was made in recognition of the workload pressures that Scotland’s teachers faced. The SSTA and other teacher unions will declare a formal trade dispute if no proposal is received by Monday 3 February. Teachers see the 90-minute reduction in class contact time as an important step by the…

Reduction in Teacher Contact Time (90 minutes) - Deadline Approaches  The Scottish Government committed to a reduction in teacher class contact time from 22.5 hours to 21 hours. This commitment was made in recognition of the workload pressures that Scotland’s teachers faced.Little progress has been made to date and the SSTA and other teacher unions will declare a formal trade dispute if no proposal by Monday 3 February. However, the Scottish Government published a joint agreement with COSLA on 11 December 2024…