RATHER than spending the day teaching in the classroom, some 3,500 Glasgow teachers turned up instead at the city’s Kelvin Hall (above) for a rally on Monday, May 8, 1961.

The EIS had called a strike over plans to “dilute” the profession via the introduction of non-graduate male teachers. The union was also angered by Scottish Education Department proposals to launch content courses at colleges of education, which, it feared, would enable non-graduates of both sexes to teach academic and vocational subjects at secondary schools.

Some other teaching unions supported the strike. On the first day, some 5,000 teachers out of 7,000 were absent, which meant that around 130,000 unexpectedly found themselves on holiday. Another 50,000 pupils, for whom teachers were available, would not all have full-time lessons.

The rally was told that the strike was “solid.” It called for the resignation of Scots Secretary of State, John Maclay, for allegedly refusing to inform the profession or the public of his plans to “dilute” the profession and trying to deprive teachers of the right to free salary negotiations.

On the final day, Friday, 1,000 teachers attending a meeting were told: “When you go back to your schools on Monday, go back conscious of the fact that you have played an absolutely necessary part in the history and progress of Scottish education.”