UNIONS


Headteacher Alex Wood reports from the recent AGM of


the Educational Institute of Scotland, which set out the challenges for Scottish education in the coming years


T


HE RECENT AGM of the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) reflected the dilemmas facing contemporary Scottish education and suggests a stormy year ahead for Scottish schools. Curriculum for Excellence,


introduced by the previous Liberal-Labour Scottish Executive and continued by the SNP Scottish government has met considerable scepticism, indeed opposition, but has been supported by the EIS. A bid for a boycott of Curriculum for Excellence


“until there is adequate funding for its delivery” was overwhelmingly defeated but an amendment, moved by the union’s council, “to investigate and consider a work to contract” was carried. At one level this position seeks to bring together


two essentially separate perspectives, concern at the work levels in schools and an ambiguous perspective on Curriculum for Excellence itself, partly support for the principles, partly doubt about the details and the timescale. An unsettled teaching workforce will continue to gnaw at this bone in the year ahead. Curriculum for Excellence has however ceased to


be the main focus of concern among Scottish teachers. The cuts agenda has been looming for the last year but now dominates staffroom discussion. The EIS has agreed to ballot members on strike action against budget cuts, with a one-day strike and demonstration planned for March 2011. The Scottish government is seeking to delay the


implementation of cuts to local government to the last minute – at least until after the 2011 Scottish Parliamentary elections. Every council in Scotland however is implementing cuts in expenditure. School closures, cuts in management, administrative and support staff and reductions in schools’ supplies and services budgets are all occurring. Local authorities are looking to pool resources across councils. Teachers also fear the possibility of a pay cut in the public sector, or at least a pay freeze. The EIS voted overwhelmingly for a campaign


including industrial action should such a threat become reality. Whether there is the stomach on the staffroom floor for industrial action is another matter. The fact that it is even on the agenda however is an augur of the disenchantment among Scottish teachers. The lack of employment opportunities for NQTs was also discussed by the EIS. Recent figures show that


only 25 per cent of NQTs went on to secure full-time, permanent employment. This situation is particularly acute in PE where the government increased the quota of PE courses to meet the expected demand as schools moved towards the compulsory two hours a week of PE for all students. The slow pace of that move has meant that hundreds of young PE teachers are failing to secure posts. The lack of a solid base of young teachers establishing themselves in the profession has robbed Scottish schools of the energetic enthusiasts who might well have made Curriculum for Excellence an earlier reality than is transpiring. Interestingly however, School Leaders Scotland


(the secondary heads’ association), in its submission to the Donaldson review of teacher education, has put a somewhat different slant on the issue of NQTs, saying: “A number of us view with dismay the poor literacy skills of a number of NQTs in secondary schools.”


School Leaders Scotland goes on to warn of the serious affect on pupils of sub-standard NQTs. Perhaps the most interesting decisions of the EIS


AGM were several at the end of the agenda concerning inspection and quality assurance. One motion passed committed the EIS to “investigate and report on Quality Assurance demands placed on schools by local authorities in the lead up to HMIE inspections”. The union also agreed to campaign for an


independent review of HMIE and to campaign “against the continuing pejorative reporting and identification of teachers in HMIE reports”. Again, the cuts have already impacted on this


issue with several local authorities making substantial reductions in their internal quality assurance teams but the generalised unhappiness about the nature of the inspection and quality assurance processes remains a powerful current in Scottish schools.


Ronnie Smith, the EIS’s general secretary, stated that


“there is little doubt we are about to enter a very long, dark tunnel which will test our members and our institute to a degree that few will ever have experienced”. He laid down a challenge to Scottish local


government: “If local government is serious about being a tier of government, rather than local administration, it needs to get up off its knees and start to fight for the communities whose interests they are supposed to represent and the services, the vital public services, they are trusted to provide.” With Scottish Parliamentary elections due in 2011


and local government elections in 2012, what is certain is that educational expenditure and standards will be high on the Scottish political agenda.


SecEd


• Alex Wood is headteacher at Wester Hailes Education Centre in Edinburgh.


Teacher re-accreditation: a distraction?


Not many have noticed the apparent plans to introduce re-accreditation of teachers. The NASUWT’s Scotland organiser, Jane Peckham, explains


independence, the Public Services Reform (General Teaching Council for Scotland) Order 2011 is expected to go before the Scottish Parliament next month. One aspect built within the Order, although


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not acknowledged loudly, will be the proposal to introduce a system of “re-accreditation” for all teachers in Scotland. This proposal when first mooted by the cabinet secretary should merely be an exploration by the GTCS to “explore” the merits or otherwise of teacher re-accreditation. However, what should merely have been an exploration of the issues appears to have evolved into an assumption that the


ITH ITScurrent transition to independence, the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) has much to consider. Following the consultation on GTCS


introduction of a system of teacher re-accreditation is a matter of not whether, but how and when. The NASUWT is engaging with the GTCS and


the Scottish Parliament in an effort to establish their intentions surrounding re-accreditation. What appears to be driving this development is an


unfounded set of claims regarding teacher competence. With scant supportive evidence, some commentators have sought to claim that there are hundreds if not thousands of incompetent teachers across the country. Underpinning this was the claim that teachers are not keeping up-to-date with current practice. This has increased pressure to require teachers to prove their worth. These claims are highly simplistic and do not provide


a sound basis for system-wide upheaval. Furthermore, the proposition for introducing a system of teacher re-accreditation also fails to acknowledge that there is already a system in place for managing and monitoring teacher performance and competence and professional


development that supports and upskills teachers throughout their careers. There would be no value in replicating the existing system. Employers should already be using the current arrangements to record each teacher’s development needs and priorities. If the system is failing, that is not the fault of teachers themselves and there should be no additional expectations placed on teachers to demonstrate their worth. There is an important issue about teachers’ access to


CPD and the quality of CPD provision, often regarded by teachers themselves as inadequate. An NASUWT survey of members in Scotland


has previously indicated that despite the contractual provision of an additional 35 hours for teachers’ CPD, four out of every 10 respondents said that they were not able to access the training programmes and CPD they needed. This was particularly true for women teachers. There are various reasons for this, including the lack


of control over independent providers and the simple challenges of geography for teachers living in remote areas. It does not help, especially in hard economic times, that the Chartered Teacher Scheme requires teachers to pay for CPD out of their own pocket. Increasing accountability on teachers to demonstrate


competence provides no solution to the problem of inadequate CPD provision and the inequitable access to CPD for all teachers. More needs to be done to ensure that every teacher, at all stages in their careers, has a clear and unequivocal contractual entitlement to access high quality CPD based upon the teacher’s assessment of her/


his needs and priorities. This would help to support sustainable improvements in teacher quality over time. Would it not be better to invest time and energy into addressing the issue of CPD access than stifling teachers with yet more accountability demands. Helpfully, it has been strongly emphasised


by all involved that there is no intention for any re-accreditation scheme to link directly to competency. That will continue to be vital. However, teachers are highly skilled professionals who are committed to updating their professional knowledge, skills and practice. A teacher re-accreditation process represents an implicit criticism of teacher competence, as well as teachers’ commitment, motivation and performance. This will be viewed by teachers with huge suspicion, particularly given the turbulence and uncertainty being faced by schools. With the raft of major educational reforms taking


place within Scotland’s schools – not least the implementation of the Curriculum for Excellence – coupled with the pressure on public spending anticipated over the next few years, we see no value in introducing an unnecessary scheme for teacher re-accreditation which will be costly to administer, bureaucratic and a distraction from the vital job of teaching and leading and managing teaching and learning.


• Jane Peckham is the Scotland organiser for the NASUWT, a UK-wide teaching union.


A meeting of minds


SecEd • August 26 2010


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