Review of Teacher Employment in Scotland
Since January, I have had the pleasure of chairing the independent review group tasked with looking closely at teacher employment in Scotland.
Months of hard work, research, meetings and school visits have now come to an end with the publication of our report.
Our task has been to consider the Teachers’ Agreement and make recommendations that will improve outcomes for the children and young people that attend Scotland’s schools.
This is clearly an important task. The provision of a high quality education system is crucial for the future success of Scotland’s young people and indeed for the long-term future of the country.
Having considered all the evidence put to us, our recommendations range from conditions of employment, to future professional development.
Some recommendations aim to increase the flexibility of the profession. In some cases the way in which terms and conditions were enshrined in the Teachers’ Agreement has, in our view, resulted in overly prescriptive and inflexible arrangements with little benefit for pupils.
The Review also strongly endorses the messages of the Donaldson Report on teacher education and aims to build on his recommendations by enhancing arrangements for personal development which will in turn strengthen the quality of teaching.
Finally, we know that there is a great deal of excellent practice already taking place in Scotland’s schools. We recognise this, and have made recommendations to encourage the sharing of good practice.
In combination with the Donaldson Report, our recommendations believe, have the potential to strengthen teaching in Scotland while improving outcomes for children and young people.
Professor Gerry McCormac
Chair, Review of Teacher Education in Scotland
Further information
www.reviewofteacheremployment.org
Engage News: Government responds to McCormac report
1 comment
Great analysis of the problems generated by McCrone. I was a HT( now retired) when Mccrone came into place and I remeber the convolutions managers had to go through in terms of the lengths of periods so that teahers could bet their allotted non-teaching time each week. Some teachers even objected that in weeks with a holiday they did not have enough non-teaching time.
Cover for absent colleaugues became a nightmare with staff counting up each minute assisuously.
The Chartered Teacher post was a great waste of money in secondary schools. Those who completed the course collected their money and contributed exactly the same to the school as they did before.
in my school I decided that anyone with a responsibilty for managing others had to be in school all the time. This was accepeterd by staff but I know that in some schools even Principal Teachers of Guidance felt they could absent themselves to go shopping.
The flexibilty commended in your report is the best way forward. perhaps the politicians should realise that prescribe particular times for subjects eg 2 hours for PE clashes with other time constraints from Mccrone ie period length of 53 minutes.