THE parents of two teachers have confronted John Swinney at the SNP conference about a crisis of stress and underfunding in the profession.
The party members raised their concerns directly with the Education Secretary at a fringe held by the country’s largest teaching union, the EIS.
Union leaders also told Mr Swinney teacher morale was “extremely low”, with a wave of “burn outs” causing vacancies and recruitment problems.
EIS President Alison Thornton said: “Teaching is no longer seen as an attractive career choice. Hence the current recruitment and retention crisis that faces a lot of our schools.”
EIS general secretary Larry Flanagan added: “I have 33 years experience as a teacher. I struggle to recall a time when teacher morale was quite as low as it is today. Teachers are genuinely scunnered with the various pressures they face on a day-to-day basis.”
He said the biggest issue was an “excessive workload”, particularly bureaucracy that didn’t make a difference in the classroom.
He also cited the mainstreaming of children with special educational needs without adequate support.
The complaints were borne out by the parents of two teachers.
Lothian Webster, from Pitlochry, said he was the father of a primary teacher in Edinburgh.
He said: “She has in her class an autistic Indian boy who doesn’t speak English and has violent tendencies, and she’s having to spend an awful lot of time looking after this boy to the detriment of her class. She’s got no support or help with this specialist case.
“I see it as representing a wider problem - that additional support does not seem to be there.”
Swinney said: “The needs of an individual child need to be considered within the context of whether that’s having an effect on other young people in the classroom. On the basis of what you’ve said to me just now, it sounds to me as if that that’s not being done effectively.”
Brian Watson, a former lecturer and teacher from Bearsden, said his daughter in Glasgow was thinking of giving up education as a career.
He said: “I hear nothing but stories about colleagues who are stressed to the limit.”
He said stress was causing teachers to leave the profession or be off for extended periods.
He asked Mr Swinney: “Have you accepted there is a crisis of stress amongst teachers?"
Mr Flanagan said: "One of the reasons we have a recruitment and retention crisis is the number of teachers who are leaving early.
“We had the biggest ever spike in the 44 to 55 age group leaving the profession last year, whereas before teachers tended to stay, and it’s because they are burned out.”
Mr Swinney said teaching was a “very challenging role” and the government was taking steps to ensure more teachers on the ground.
He said: “Part of what contributes to stress is teacher vacancies. I certainly acknowledge there are challenges within schools and we have to support the wellbeing of teachers”
After hearing Mr Swinney, Mr Webster said: “On the ground there’s frustration, and from speaking to my daughter, the frustration and the lack of support is horrendous. That’s [the responsibility of] local authorities though. Why don’t they get a grip and do something about it?”
The EIS is currently pressing for a 10% pay rise for teachers.
Mr Swinney said the current offer was the best in the UK - 5% for some teachers and up to 11% for others - and urged the profession to accept it.
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