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.
The frustration and anger of NASUWT members was palpable in our survey on this topic in June/July, where a clear majority were in favour of taking some form of industrial action, should there be no significant progress on delivering the reduction in class contact time.
We had hopes that a recent agreement to set up a series of meetings of a Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers (SNCT) Sub-group on Reduced Class Contact Time, with NASUWT representation, should help to move things forward with more pace. This has not proved to be the case so far and, should there be no significant progress soon, NASUWT will consider moving to a statutory ballot on industrial action.
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. A revised offer is awaited.
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