Anger at bid to hand power to head teachers
CONTROVERSIAL plans to give headteachers more powers must be abandoned, say union chiefs.
They fear the move will heap pressure on teachers who are already facing soaring workloads amid national staff shortages.
The Scottish Secondary Teachers’ Association general secretary Seamus Searson yesterday urged Education Secretary John Swinney to ditch the reform plans.
He told the union’s annual congress in Crieff, Perthshire, that proposed changes in the SNP administration’s latest legislation are not welcomed by the majority of the public.
The Bill would see sweeping reforms, including the introduction of a headteachers’ charter, giving heads more power over the curriculum, recruitment and budgets. It has been strongly opposed by teaching unions.
Mr Searson said: ‘The creation of a headteachers’ charter is unwanted by many headteachers as they are already struggling to cope with all the demands placed upon them.
‘There is no public consensus for this – so minister, don’t proceed.’
He also criticised plans to disband the General Teaching Council of Scotland (GTCS) and transfer its functions to a new Education Workforce Council – a move the GTCS says has ‘no evidence-based rationale’.
‘If the proposed Education Bill is not going to help teachers in the classroom today, then don’t do it. It does not address the issues that are important to teachers today – pay, workload and pupil behaviour,’ he said.
The SSTA has also threatened industrial action over pay. Demanding a 10 per cent rise, the organisation says teachers’ pay has fallen by almost 19 per cent in a decade, when inflation and increased national insurance and pension contributions are taken into account.
Meanwhile, the union says the workload has increased. It wants to see a national qualifications system ‘without the workloadheavy, bureaucratic and administrative nonsense’.
Mr Searson said such issues have resulted in teachers quitting the profession, and difficulty in filling posts. ‘Teaching is not attractive when we have low pay and spiralling workload demands, and when schools are unable to meet the needs of more demanding and challenging pupils,’ he said.
A Scottish Government spokesman said its reforms were ‘focused on giving schools and headteachers more power and money to raise standards and close the attainment gap’.
The spokesman said: ‘They are based on international evidence of how high-performing education systems work – delivering extra help for teachers in the classroom, more professional development and a stronger voice for parents and pupils.
‘The majority of respondents to the consultation support the principles behind our education reforms.’
Scottish Labour Education spokesman Iain Gray said: ‘John Swinney needs to sit up and listen to what Scotland’s teachers are saying.
‘The SNP claims that education is their top priority – but having slashed funding for years and now forcing through reforms to centralise schools in the face of opposition from teachers and unions, that simply is not a credible claim.
‘The real reform our schools need is more funding.’
‘Administrative nonsense’