PRIMARY headteachers have welcomed the latest “enhanced” pay offer from the Scottish Government.
Greg Dempster, general secretary of the Association of Headteachers and Deputes in Scotland (AHDS), said the proposal was “meaningfully better” than the current deal.
The comments come after the Educational Institute of Scotland recommended a move to a ballot on strike action in a bid to secure a ten per cent increase - a move backed by the AHDS.
If it goes ahead it will be the first national strike over pay since the 1980s when Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister.
However, since then the Scottish Government has made an enhanced proposal to the EIS and has asked council umbrella body Cosla to also agree it at a meeting later this week.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the proposal would mean all teachers receiving a minimum nine per cent increase between January 2018 and April 2019, with a further three per cent in April 2020.
Mr Dempster said: “Our calculations tell us this proposal is meaningfully better than the current offer over the period of the pay award.
“We hope that Cosla will make this enhanced offer, funded by the Scottish Government, following their meeting.
“If the offer is made, AHDS would consult members on whether the offer should be accepted and would strongly recommend to members that they support acceptance.”
However, primary headteachers have also called for reform of the current system which decides how much additional cash promoted teachers get paid.
Mr Dempster said the so-called toolkit failed to properly measure different roles such as headteachers in charge of a number of different schools. It also fails to ensure “meaningful financial incentives” for school deputies to move into headship.
He added: “We were very pleased that a review of the toolkit sizing formed part of the offer. This is very important to our members.
“We are keen that this commitment remains in any new offer and that it is progressed quickly when the pay award has been settled.”
Ms Sturgeon told the Scottish Parliament last week: “The Scottish Government has made an enhanced proposal to the EIS and has asked Cosla to also agree it.
“The proposal ... is a clear indication of our commitment to recruit and retain teachers, and it is the best offer in the public sector anywhere in the United Kingdom.
“I urge Cosla to adopt the proposal as a formal offer, which is a necessary step to resolving the dispute. If it does so, I urge the teaching unions to consider the offer favourably.”
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 here