Members of NASUWT – The Teachers’ Union in Scotland are to be balloted for industrial action over the failure of the Scottish Government to make significant progress on its manifesto commitment to reduce teachers' maximum class contact time from 22.5 to 21 hours per week.
The ballot is due to open in mid-November. Members will be balloted for both strike action and action short of strike action.
The commitment to reduce class contact time was part of the SNP’s 2021 election manifesto and was then enshrined in the Programme for Government that same year, with a commitment that it would be delivered in the life of this parliament.
Despite the next election looming, no tangible progress towards achieving this commitment has been made.
Matt Wrack, NASUWT General Secretary, said:
“We are now more than four years on from the 2021 Scottish Parliament election but not only are teachers yet to see any promised reduction in the class contact time, their workloads have actually increased during this period.
“We have exhausted all avenues to try to get the Government and COSLA to agree to concrete measures to achieve this commitment, but it is now evident that the promise to the profession is not going to be met during this Parliament.
“Where ministers and employers continue to fail our teachers, we will stand up for their right to working conditions which would enable them to deliver the highest quality of learning for our children and young people.”
Mike Corbett, NASUWT National Official for Scotland, said:
“The commitment on class contact time was a recognition by the Scottish Government that additional time away from the classroom was necessary to give teachers sufficient time and space to plan, prepare and assess pupils’ work in order to help students achieve their best and raise attainment.
“Since 2024 we’ve had agreements to work “at pace” and the establishment of working groups by the Scottish Government and COSLA to make meaningful progress on class contact time reduction. But the reality is that teachers today are arguably worse off in terms of their workloads and working hours than they were in 2021 when this commitment was first made.
“A reduction in class contact time is as needed now, if not more so, than in 2021.
“It is regrettable that we have been forced to declare a trade dispute and move to a ballot in order to try to force the government to give teachers the working conditions it itself acknowledges they require to do the job effectively.”
