SECONDARY school teachers are taking part in industrial action over claims of excessive workload from today in a move that comes despite Holyrood measures to lift some of the pressure.
The Scottish Secondary Teachers’ Association (SSTA) said most of its 9,000 member are taking part in the work to rule for 10 days from Monday which comes after the Scottish Government announced plans to scrap time-consuming internal assessments.
The Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) suspended its action campaign after John Swinney, Scottish Education Secretary, announced that secondary teachers would no longer be expected to complete the so-called unit assessments as part of National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher qualifications, the SSTA is continuing its separate action.
The SSTA said the changes proposed by Holyrood were not immediate and didn't encompass enough material.
Seamus Searson, the SSTA general secretary, said, “The title of our campaign is very important to our members.
"Our concern about the young people we teach is as important our concern for teaching and tackling the teacher workload burden.”
“SSTA members have been campaigning for a number of years to reduce teacher workload in all aspects of our work but especially in the senior phase.
"If we achieve our aim our young people will also benefit.”
He said the SSTA welcomed the Mr Swinney's removal of unit assessments are to be removed from National 5 in 2017-2018 but added: "Unfortunately, there has not been any progress on the situation in regard to National 4 and no reduction in workload pressure for both pupils and teachers in the current session".
Euan Duncan, SSTA President said: “SSTA members care passionately about the young people they teach and getting the best qualifications. However, the pressure and stress suffered by both young people and teachers cannot be allowed to continue.
"We hope the Deputy First Minister (Mr Swinney) can work with the SSTA to find a way forward and put measures in place to help the situation.”
There was a 91 per cent vote in favour in taking industrial action after a 40.8 per cent turnout in the Ballot.
A Scottish Government spokesman said: "It is disappointing that SSTA have decided to commence industrial action, especially at a time when EIS have suspended action in recognition of the work we are doing to ease the burden on teachers.
"Over the past few months, the Scottish Government has listened carefully to what teachers, parents, young people and others have had to say on workload, and have responded positively with a range of actions to help reduce workload pressures.
"As part of this, we have now announced the removal of mandatory unit assessments from National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher courses."
He added: "This will significantly reduce the workload for our teachers, giving them more time to focus on what is most important – teaching our young people - while maintaining the core principles of Curriculum for Excellence.
“We have also taken swift action in response to feedback from teachers and others, to de-clutter the curriculum guidance and review the workload demands placed on teachers by local authorities.
"As these measures bed in, we ask teachers to continue to work with us to ensure that together we can create more time to teach our young people, and help contribute to closing the attainment gap.”
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