I’m guessing most of you know how to answer the above question but I hope to add something.
Why is Scotland’s largest teacher union, the EIS, not jumping quickly in to defend the professionalism of its members. Imagine the Scottish Government blamed them for some failure of pupils learning?
Here’s the EIS site on news today:
Not a word in defence of their own members’ reputations.
What are the latest statistics on attainment in Scottish Primary schools?
Attainment at a record high
The proportions of pupils in primary achieving expected levels of literacy and numeracy have reached record highs for children from both the most and least deprived areas, according to official statistics.
Overall, the Achievement of Curriculum for Excellence Levels (ACEL) 2022/23 show:
- for numeracy, a total of 79.6% of pupils reached the levels expected in 2022/23, a rise of 0.5 percentage points compared to the previous high (79.1% in 2018/19).
- for literacy a rise to 72.7%, up on the previous high of 72.3% in 2018/19
The gap between the proportion of primary pupils from the most and least deprived areas achieving expected levels in literacy has also decreased to the lowest on record in 2022/23.
The figures also show improvements at secondary level compared to 2021/22, with increases in attainment across the board and the gap between those from most and least deprived areas has reduced.
https://www.gov.scot/news/attainment-at-a-record-high/
Reporting Scotland’s ‘expert’ casts all that hard work into the bin as worthlessly subjective.
In the full report online, One in four Scots children not reaching primary school standards, they make the same claim but still do not name the expert, express facts as mere SNP ministerial claims and platform both the Cons and Lib Dumbs! Greens, no?
In the BBC report, the EIS only demand more staff as if they accept the suggestion their staff fake the results or are too thick to be reliable assessors.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-67691246
Why might the EIS be doing this?
Three years ago I wrote this. Does it still stand?
Scottish teachers being duped by former Stirling Uni 70’s cabal?
In the mid-70s, Stirling University had one of the first access courses, for mature students with ‘limited’ school-leaving qualifications.
I was there. So were Jack McConnell, John Reid, Mick Connarty and Richard Leonard. Larry Flanagan, EIS General Secretary was there too. They were all sort-of hard left back then but ended up in the Labour Party, to get a career.
Though my sentiments then were close to the hard left, I remained more a Groucho Marxist. All the hard left guys I knew were boring and humourless.
I was then a teacher and teacher educator from 1980 until getting a free transfer to a school of media, in 2004, too classroom-rusty to be of any use.
I knew lots of great people in schools but as a profession, they could be a bit moany, an embittered bunch. They were rarely, however, hard left. Indeed many were Tories though most, it seemed were kind of centrist.
Getting any of us to be active in the union was a struggle for the organisers. It was clearly a very different kind of life from teaching or curriculum development.
Those who did fancy it were sometimes ‘on the run’ from the classroom.
In some ways, enjoying being a union rep suggested that you hadn’t really enjoyed being in education.
So, to climb within it as Flanagan has, often needed little talent as you were up against little competition.
Jump forward to the 2020s and we see those not really leftist teachers being led sheepishly into confrontations with an SNP Government, on behalf of the leadership’s old pals in Scottish Labour based on embarrassingly feckless opinion gathering, to support campaigns foisted on a membership which will then reject them in a proper vote.
By that time, however, the publicity has been gained.
Talking-up Scotland 
On the basis of your piece John, I would ask: would you want these teachers teaching your weans?
It used to be said that in Scottish Education, the bad teachers were nearly all identified early in their careers – and shunted off into promoted posts, where they couldn’t do much damage by actually trying to teach.
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“would you want these teachers teaching your weans?”
Perhaps you should read the articles linked to on that “latest news” article before casting aspersions on the whole teaching profession in Scotland. Read the links below, and also this one from 28th November:
“Behaviour in Scottish Schools Data Confirms Rise in Violence in the Classroom”
https://www.eis.org.uk/latest-news/dataviolenceclassroom
for instance:
“A major national survey of Scotland’s schools, published last week by the EIS, indicated that 83% of schools report incidents of violence and aggression every single week. 72% of EIS school branches indicated that incidences of violence and aggression have grown over the past four years, compared to levels prior to the Covid pandemic.”
From people I know in primary schools, this includes chairs being thrown at teachers, spat at, kicked, including a pregnant teacher taken to hospital fairly recently after being kicked in the stomach by a P1 child. Luckily she is OK.
There aren’t enough teachers, there aren’t enough support assistants, but schools are now “inclusive”, and it’s very hard to exclude any children, including totally disruptive and aggressive ones.
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All three of these postings are from yesindyref2. For some reason my moniker doesn’t appear, even though logged in to WordPress.
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IF NOT WHY NOT
THEY WERE VERY HAPPY TO GRAB THE HIGHER PAY INCREASE TO SCOTS TEACHERS
NOW THEY SIT WITH BEGGING BOWL
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Did you read any of the articles on that latest news page, which I see you actually did find? For instance this one from the 5th December:
https://www.eis.org.uk/latest-news/pisaresults23
“This PISA test data, although limited in what it can say about the quality of learning within any education system, telling only a fraction of the story, reflects aspects of the hard of work and professional commitment of teachers amidst the most challenging of circumstances in the wake of the pandemic and continuing social inequality.
“Across the OECD, average scores in reading, maths and science are lower, this pointing to the detrimental impact of the Covid pandemic on learning and the shortcomings of governmental responses to education recovery.
“Scotland’s schools and teachers continue to strive to provide the best possible learning experiences for all young people but increasingly they are swimming against a tide of cuts, which threatens now to be a tidal wave unless the Scottish Government makes different decisions on spending and revenue raising to properly fund education.”
“We know that Scotland has amongst the largest average class size and highest teacher class-contact time commitments of countries within the OECD, and those are nettles that the Scottish Government will have to grasp if they are serious about delivering a better educational experience for Scotland’s young people, particularly in the wake of Covid disruption and the ongoing damage done by poverty and inequality.
“Employing more teachers in our schools would lead to smaller class sizes for pupils, and a reduction of the crippling workload demands on our teachers. This would be hugely beneficial for Scottish education, its learners and its teachers – but this requires a strong commitment and substantial additional funding from the Scottish Government if it is to meet the needs of all young people in our schools.”
There’s another couple of articles on that latest news page which show things in a different light altogether.
Unfortunately in Scotland you can still get class sizes as high as 35. AND with limited if any, classroom support. Present day teachers and classroom assistants (as opposed to ones who haven’t worked in schools for 10 or even 20 years), will tell you this is true.
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Or this one, 12th December:
“Pupils and Teachers Deserve Praise over CfE Achievement- But Schools Need More Help”
https://www.eis.org.uk/latest-news/cfe-achievement
for instance:
“The Scottish Government has previously pledged to employ 3,500 additional teachers to ease the load on over-burdened teachers, and to enhance the educational experience of pupils in our schools.
“We are still waiting for this to be delivered – and imagine how much more could be achieved if the Scottish Government keeps its promise.”</i?
Sorry to spoil the unjustified rants about a union trying to do its job for its members – teachers – who are under severe pressure, with many leaving or wanting to leave, the profession.
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Perhaps those thinking of leaving teaching in Scotland should check out conditions south of the border… teacher/pupil ratios – way worse; discipline – way worse; pay -worse; curriculum – way worse; government support – non-existent; inequalities between best/worst off – way, way worse.
But, hey-ho let’s slag off the Scottish government!
Big Jon
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The public sector in Scotland is well aware that it is generally treated better than those “south of the border”. Which is why many, probably most, voted YES in 2014.
THAT does not mean the union members aren’t struggling with the cost of living and Tory feeding the rich at the expense of the rest of us (hence a lower block grant than should be).
Meanwhile, are you proud of comments like this about our families, our neighbours, our friends, who try to teach while being spat at and having chairs thrown at them:
“would you want these teachers teaching your weans?”
“IF NOT WHY NOT
THEY WERE VERY HAPPY TO GRAB THE HIGHER PAY INCREASE TO SCOTS TEACHERS
NOW THEY SIT WITH BEGGING BOWL
WITHOUT ATTACKING UNIONISTS”
and is Prof John Robertson proud of the hatred expressed towards our teachers, which his ignorant article has engendered?
The duty of any Union is to represent its members, not join any crusade against the BBC.
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1 in 20 people are on the spectrum. Autistic, ADHD etc. Some may never read and write effectively but have many other talents. Often above the norm and can be high achievers above the norm. Every invention has been made by people on the spectrum. They can be successful in business, computers etc.
Some pupils on the spectrum can be anxious or have melt downs if they are overwhelmed. They react in a stressful way if others do not understand. In schools some teachers do not understand or have no training in diversity. These incidences can be recorded as violent. A complete negative misunderstanding. They are actions caused under stress by an anxious child. A child on spectrum should not be experiencing.
A pupil, on the spectrum, who was anxious in a noisy dining room took up a plastic knife. An untrained classroom assistant called the police. Some children should be in a different placement more suitable for their needs. There are some schools for pupils with additional needs. They are given more support. There should be more. Unionist councils spend £Billions on monstrosity projects of no value instead of education and essential services. Then not providing essential additional needs facilities and support.
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“Some children should be in a different placement more suitable for their needs. There are some schools for pupils with additional needs. They are given more support. There should be more.”
Yes, but it’s been a deliberate policy of the ScotGov to be inclusive, to make children more part of the community.
https://www.gov.scot/policies/schools/additional-support-for-learning/
“In Scotland, we have an inclusive educational system which focuses on overcoming barriers to learning and Getting it right for every child (GIRFEC).”
That’s very commendable and probably most of us would agree. Teachers getting success with autistic children for instance find it very rewarding. But it requires way smaller class sizes, and more classroom assistants. And that’s the problem – there aren’t nearly enough teachers or support.
And yes, with Independence Scotland would have full control of the budget and all the levers to improve our economy and trade and communicate with the rest of the world unmolested by Allister Jack, the viceroy presumptive, and David Cameron who’d be just another Foreign Secretary for our Government to deal with via ambassadors. Education is our future – all of us – and Indy could bring a way higher budget for schools.
To get to Indy we need to take people with us, not call them names and attack them.
Hearts and Minds.
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ConDems cut education funding £6Billion a year from 2015. £48Billion.
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