Created on: 09 May 2025 | Last modified: 27 May 2025
The national Council of the EIS has agreed to open a consultative industrial action ballot of its members, as a dispute over teacher class contact time intensifies.
A formal dispute was declared three months ago, as a result of the failure of government and employers to deliver any progress towards the Scottish Government’s 2021 manifesto commitment to address longstanding issues with teacher workload by reducing teachers’ maximum class contact time to 21 hours per week.
With no proposals forthcoming from the Scottish Government and local authorities on the delivery of this commitment, the EIS will now move to ballot its members and seek their views on industrial action in pursuit of a resolution to the dispute.
Commenting, EIS General Secretary Andrea Bradley said, “Four years ago, ahead of the last Scottish Parliament election, the current Scottish Government made a series of significant manifesto pledges on education.
"Key amongst these was a commitment to start to tackle excessive workload by reducing teachers’ maximum class contact time by 1.5 hours per week, to 21 hours. This was in recognition of the very high level of contact time for Scotland’s teachers, and an important step to seek to address the excessive workload levels that plague the profession.
"Four years on, and with another Scottish Parliament election now less than a year away, there has been absolutely no progress towards delivery of this important commitment and teachers continue to struggle in their professional and personal lives as a result.”
EIS Salaries Convener Des Morris said, “Scotland’s teachers have shown a great deal of patience over the past four years, in waiting for the Scottish Government and Scotland’s local authorities agreeing a way forward on the delivery of this manifesto promise.
"But, with absolutely no progress having been made, and with not even a set of proposals on delivery having emerged, our members’ patience on this issue is now at an end. The declaration of a formal dispute via the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers (SNCT) three months ago, intended to focus minds, has not brought anything from the Scottish Government and COSLA. It is this lack of any focus or impetus from employers and government that has led to this decision today to consult our members on industrial action.”
Ms Bradley added, “Following today’s decision, the EIS will open a consultative ballot at our AGM in June, and run this until after the summer break, to allow ample time for all of our members to have their say on this important issue.
"The Scottish Government and COSLA should take this as a clear warning – we expect this key manifesto promise to be delivered, and will take all possible steps to ensure that it is in order to improve the working conditions of teachers and the learning conditions of pupils.”