The key strands of our Better Deal for Scotland’s Teachers campaign are wellbeing, workload and pay.
Teacher wellbeing is often largely impacted by pupil behaviour and we have a separate page with a range of advice on how members and activists can secure a Better Deal on Behaviour (Scotland).
On workload, NASUWT continues to pressurise the Scottish Government and COSLA to progress the promised reduction in class contact time, which was part of the SNP manifesto for the last Scottish Parliament elections and was included in the Programme for Government for this Parliament. Regrettably, this process has been notable for its ongoing delays and obfuscation.
There has been, at least, agreement to set up a series of meetings of a Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers (SNCT) Sub-group, with NASUWT representation, which should hopefully help to move things forward with more pace.
We have also highlighted with the Cabinet Secretary and various opposition politicians some of the unnecessary bureaucracy in schools around forward planning, assessment, monitoring/tracking, school improvement plans and the dual presentation of candidates at National 4/5 and have sought their support in encouraging local authorities and schools to address this, thereby reducing teacher workload.
On pay, despite a shift in the ‘pay year’ for teachers, which now begins on 1 August, once again there has been a failure to agree a pay settlement that can be implemented in time. Having rejected a 3% offer in March of this year, a revised and improved offer for teachers was eventually received (amounting to 4% for the 2025/26 pay year and 3.5% for the following year).
However, following a meeting of teacher unions on 27 August, NASUWT and others have decided to reject this offer, largely because of rising inflation (with the RPI measure now at 4.8%) and there being no reopener clause as part of the latest offer.
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