Stand Up for Quality Education Campaign
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We are continuing to progress the Stand Up for Quality Education Campaign, nationally pushing for the implementation of the Scottish Government’s manifesto commitment to reduce teachers’ weekly class contact time. Locally, we have shared advice and guidance to Local Association Secretaries on how they can campaign and fight against any local education cuts – as Glasgow LA are successfully doing.
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Please keep an eye out for communications from your Local Association as to how you can support its local campaigning work.
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Glasgow EIS Anti-Cuts Campaign
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Teachers in Glasgow achieved a successful statutory ballot for strike action against proposed cuts to teacher numbers by Glasgow City Council, beating the anti-trade union thresholds and voting 95% in favour of taking strike action. After informing the employer of the outcome of the ballot, EIS Glasgow received an offer from Glasgow City Council’s SNP group to withdraw future planned education cuts, and a promise that additional Scottish Government funding will be used to increase the number of teachers working in Glasgow’s schools to 2023 levels.
Following discussion on the offer letter, Glasgow EIS Local Association has decided to suspend its initial planned day of strike action, scheduled for Thursday 20 February, as an act of good faith, until talks take place at full Council level on delivery of the terms of the offer outlined in the letter.
Developments in Glasgow strongly demonstrate the power of collectively standing up for quality education.
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The Education (Scotland) Bill will shortly move to Stage 2 of the Parliamentary process.
The Education, Children and Young People Committee of the Scottish Parliament will consider the detail of the Bill. The EIS has drafted proposed amendments to address the concerns raised in our written and oral evidence.
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These amendments seek to ensure that teacher voice is at the heart of the governance of the new qualifications’ agency; that accreditation and regulation of qualifications are devolved from Qualifications Scotland; and that the new office of Chief Inspector will be truly independent of the Scottish Government.
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Robert Gordon University Anti-Cuts Campaign
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Lecturers and academic-related staff will be balloted in Robert Gordon University imminently on industrial action to protect jobs at the university. Over 20 FTE of academics remain at risk of compulsory redundancy, on top of a large number of “voluntary” severances. The EIS is supporting and facilitating members to stand up to the university management at RGU.
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International Women's Day
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As part of the EIS’s International Women’s Day activities, the EIS will be focusing on #AcceleratingAction on Menopause and Menstrual Health at Work. Local Association Secretaries and members should look out for the EIS refreshed Guidance on Menopause and Menstrual Health at Work and are encouraged to utilise this guidance to host local discussions about Menopause and Menstrual Health as workplace issues.
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Independent Research Request
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Independent Research: Request for members to participate in “Teacher turnover in Scotland: What factors influence teachers' decision to downscale or leave the profession?”
The team of independent academic researchers who carried out the research on teacher workload, funded by the EIS but written independently, has begun a new research project – “Teacher Turnover in Scotland” and is looking for teacher participants.
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This research is neither funded nor associated with the EIS, but we have agreed to share information about the project with members for members to have the opportunity to participate if they wish.
“New project: teacher turnover
Given the disturbingly high rates of teacher exit intentions (voluntarily, for reasons other than retirement) reported in the workload study, the research team is keen to follow-up with further work on the factors that influence teacher decisions to withdraw from their role, or from the profession. The new project is going to explore withdrawal paths i.e., the staggered process whereby teachers come to ‘downscale’ (demit from promoted posts or move to fractional contracts) or leave the profession altogether. If only 15% of turnover intentions among experienced teachers lead to actual exits before retirement, there is a potential loss of professional capacity in the system (in key roles and subjects).”
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Stephen Stewart, EIS Pensions and Payroll Specialist, will be holding meetings via Microsoft Teams on the following dates:
This is an opportunity for EIS members to raise general queries around pensions and around the McCloud Remedy.
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Thank you to all members to participated in the national member survey that was open between Christmas and January 2025.
It was a comprehensive survey and we received over 10,700 responses which puts us in a good position for writing up the report and using this to inform future campaigning.
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On March 20th, the EIS will be hosting an online event with guest speakers from the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS), Education Scotland and the EIS.
The ‘Into Teaching: Professional Update and Workload’ webinar will take place on Thursday 20th March from 4.30-6pm.
Victoria Smith, GTCS Director of Education, Registration and Professional Learning, will discuss the process of Professional Update and EIS Education Committee Convenor, Susan Quinn, will discuss experiences of teaching in the first five years including managing your workload and sustaining your wellbeing.
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Are you a Probationer Teacher? - EIS Membership and Support
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