Created on: 21 Nov 2025
The Teachers’ Panel of the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers (SNCT) has today met to consider the public announcement made by the Cabinet Secretary for Education yesterday, 20 November 2025, in relation to a miscellany of proposals pertaining to the terms and conditions of service of teachers.
These include potentially problematic proposals on the implementation of the Scottish Government’s 2021 manifesto commitment to reduce weekly class contact time, the non-delivery of which is at the crux of an ongoing and escalating workload dispute raised by Scotland’s teachers.
The Teachers’ Panel notes with dismay the decision taken by the Cabinet Secretary for Education to circumvent the well-established collective bargaining structures of the SNCT by announcing proposals to the Scottish media that pertain to the terms and conditions of Scotland’s teachers, ahead of any communication whatsoever with the representatives of teachers who negotiate on their behalf at the SNCT. The SNCT has now received the proposals from the Scottish Government, and the appropriate steps will be taken by constituent unions in forming a collective response.
It is a source of significant concern to the SNCT Teachers’ Panel that despite previously and publicly stated commitments to the principles and democratic value of social dialogue and collective bargaining, made by the Scottish Government - a co-architect of the Fair Work Framework - a senior member of the Cabinet would undermine collective bargaining in such a way.
Furthermore, in the context of a formal dispute declared in February of this year and in which three constituent unions of the Teachers’ Panel are now conducting statutory ballots for industrial action on workload, the Teachers’ Panel is disappointed that the Cabinet Secretary has yet again failed to agree on the key issue that unsustainable workload is addressed through ensuring that the full 1.5 hours that would result from reducing weekly class contact time to a maximum of 21 hours per week is allocated to the time that teachers have for preparing and responding to learning, teaching and assessment in support of their learners.
On behalf of all of Scotland’s teachers, the Teachers’ Panel urges the Cabinet Secretary for Education to, in future, refrain from circumvention of agreed collective bargaining processes, to fully uphold the Scottish Government’s stated commitment to collective bargaining, and furthermore, commit to resolving the formal SNCT dispute and avoiding industrial action in Scotland’s schools, by honouring the 2021 manifesto commitment to reduce weekly class contact time to a maximum of 21 hours per week, swiftly and unequivocally addressing the unsustainable workload with which Scotland’s teachers continue to struggle.