SCOTTISH teachers are demanding more pay to offset a growing recruitment crisis in the sector.
The annual meeting of the NASUWT teaching union heard there were problems findings teachers to fill vacancies in a number of schools with lower pay one issue of concern.
Richard Bell, a member of the union, said "more and more" was being asked of Scottish teachers at a time when they were being paid "less and less".
He said: "From our unique perspective as a union we can see the corrosive effects of policy decisions which undermine both teacher morale and consequently have a negative impact on the educational experiences of young people.
"Without tangible positive steps to support teachers then what may begin as a supply problem will likely grow into a general recruitment crisis, as has been the experience elsewhere."
Mr Bell also suggested the political parties' manifestos indicated a potential move towards greater decision-making at headteacher level.
But he warned this should not lead to a move towards English-style academies.
He said: "Uniquely within the Scottish context, our union can bring to bear the experience of dealing with an academy and free school system, and seek to lobby decision makers to ensure that the negative aspects of such a system are not visited on Scottish education."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel