Teacher dispute now appears ‘inevitable’ over class time, union leader warns

Teachers’ leaders have warned a dispute over working conditions now appears “inevitable” as they accused the Scottish Government and councils of “stalling” on a commitment to cut the time staff spend in class.

A deadline of noon on Monday had been set for ministers and the local government body Cosla to put forward proposals to reduce teachers’ contact time.

The SNP manifesto in 2021 promised to cut the time teachers spend in class by 90 minutes a week to 21 hours.

The EIS union is now warning “the patience of Scotland’s teachers on this issue has run out”, and said a formal dispute could be declared.

The union said teachers’ “unsustainable workload” means they are having to spend “numerous hours of unpaid time each week” on tasks such as marking pupils’ work and preparing for classes.

EIS general secretary Andrea Bradley said: “It is deeply concerning that despite public assurances, the Scottish Government and Cosla have failed to meet the deadline set for the beginning this week to finally, after four years of stalling, start meaningful progress on reducing class contact time.

“With Scotland’s teachers continuing to be burdened by unsustainable workload and to engage in numerous hours of unpaid time each week on planning, preparing and providing feedback on learning, this failure now makes a wholly avoidable dispute appear inevitable.”

Ms Bradley branded the situation “unacceptable”, and said the EIS salaries committee is due to discuss the issue when it meets on Thursday.

Those talks come ahead of a full meeting of the teachers panel of the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers – the body which negotiates teachers’ pay and conditions. The panel had originally set Monday’s deadline.

Ms Bradley said: “In light of the failure of the Scottish Government and Cosla to put words into action and make real their commitment to meaningful progress on class contact time, and the fact that the patience of Scotland’s teachers on this issue has run out, it is difficult to imagine any other outcome from these deliberations than dispute declaration.”

The Scottish Government and Cosla have been contacted for comment.