Created on: 29 Aug 2025
Scotland’s teachers have today sent a very strong and very clear message to the Scottish Government and local authority employers: deliver on your commitments to tackle teacher workload, or we will move to industrial action.
A ballot organised by the EIS has today displayed strong support for both Action Short of Strike (92% in favour) and strike action (83% in favour), if a long-awaited promise to cut teachers’ class contact time is not delivered in the near future.
The online consultative ballot opened at the EIS AGM in June, and ran throughout the summer holiday period before closing this week.
The result makes clear that the patience of teachers is at an end, and they expect the promise made, prior to the 2021 Scottish Parliament election, to be delivered as a matter of urgency.
Commenting on the ballot result, EIS General Secretary Andrea Bradley said, “Teachers across Scotland have sent a very clear message to their employers and the Scottish Government that they must now deliver on the promise to tackle excessive teacher workload.
"We are now in the fifth year since the pledge was made to reduce teachers’ maximum class contact time by 1.5 hours per week, to 21 hours. Teachers have shown a tremendous amount of patience, even under extreme workload stress, while those responsible for delivering this commitment have dithered and delayed, with no tangible progress having yet been made on delivery.”
Ms Bradley continued, “This ballot result makes clear to both the Scottish Government and COSLA that Scotland’s teachers and the EIS fully expect proper negotiations on the class contact reduction commitment to move ahead at pace, leading to an agreement and a timetable for delivery of the reduction to 21 hours class contact.
"The EIS and Scotland’s teachers are also very clear that the 1.5 reduction in class contact must be allocated to teachers for preparation and correction, as a real and meaningful step to reducing teacher workload.”
Ms Bradley added, “Should very quick progress not be made on delivery of the class contact time commitment, the EIS will move swiftly to a statutory ballot for industrial action. Throughout the past four years, while the Scottish Government and COSLA have continued to prevaricate over delivery of the commitment to tackle workload, Scotland’s teachers have continued to suffer severe pressure and stress as a result of their workload burdens.
"It is long past time for delivery of the pledge that was made to Scotland’s teachers, pupils and the electorate – teacher workload must be reduced, starting with swift delivery of the reduction in class contact hours to a maximum of 21 per week.”
Ballot Result
Voting YES or Action Short of Strike: 92% Against: 8%
Voting YES for Strike Action: 83% Against: 17%