Gilruth told to do her homework in letter row
Education secretary Jenny Gilruth has been told to “do her own homework” after being accused of failing to read another key document.
The SNP minister was criticised at the weekend after she admitted in a BBC interview that she had not read a report by the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) union on the shocking scale of violence in Aberdeen schools.
Now it has been claimed she “ignored” a letter by a different teaching union, the NASUWT, on the “crisis” of school staff workloads, and that she failed to read a significant report it referenced.
Earlier this month, Conservative MSP Liam Kerr highlighted the initial recommendations of an English taskforce on reducing teacher workloads in Holyrood, asking Ms Gilruth which of the measures she proposed to implement in Scotland.
The education secretary, who is a former teacher, responded that she had “not seen that group for England, nor its recommendations”.
However, it has now been revealed that Mike Corbett, the NASUWT national official in Scotland, had written to Ms Gilruth to draw her attention to the recommendations just a week earlier.
Mr Kerr, Conservative education spokesman, said: “It seems that not reading key documents is a recurring habit for the Cabinet secretary.
“First Jenny Gilruth admitted that she was unaware of the workforce reduction task report, which had already been flagged to her, and [on Sunday] she admitted she hadn’t read the EIS report detailing the horrific violence teachers in Aberdeen have suffered.
"It’s time that this former teacher did her own homework and kept on top of her brief. Our hard-working teachers have been abandoned by the SNP, left languishing on temporary contracts and subjected to abuse in their workplace, all while trying their hardest to give our young people the best education possible with limited resources. They deserve better.”
In his letter, Mr Corbett pointed to a recent survey by the union showing 40 per cent of teachers reported their workload had increased significantly over the past year, and said teachers’ working hours were still “significantly beyond the suggested 35-hour week”, due mainly to administrative and clerical tasks, as well as data and assessment requirements.
He said: “Unusually, England seems to have been more pro-active in this regard and its workload reduction taskforce has announced recommendations to address workload pressures, including reinserting a list of bureaucratic tasks that teachers and leaders should not be expected to do into the school teachers’ pay and conditions document.”
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “The Education Secretary has engaged with NASUWT this week on potential workload implications for any changes to the qualifications resulting from reform, which will require to be managed carefully.
"And far from ignoring the letter Mr Kerr refers to, the NASUWT have been offered a further meeting with the Cabinet Secretary to discuss these matters further.”
It seems that not reading key documents is a recurring habit