Created on: 20 Nov 2025
Yesterday, our independent balloteer posted new ballot papers to members. They should arrive today or tomorrow.
This ballot remains the best way we can put pressure on the Scottish Government and COSLA to deliver the 90 minute weekly class contact reduction that the Scottish Government promised and COSLA has agreed to implement. This reduction in weekly class contact and corresponding increase in ‘preparation & correction’ time is a first step to reducing teacher workload, amongst other SU4QE aims, such as smaller class sizes.
Some other developments:
SNCT Reducing Class Contact Time Working Group
A further meeting of the SNCT Reducing Class Contact Time working group took place yesterday, Wednesday, 19th November.
COSLA reported to the meeting that further work had been undertaken by their special advisors and that it was hoped that a paper on the use of time resulting from a reduction in weekly class contact time to 21 hours would be considered by COSLA leaders at their next meeting on 28th November. COSLA also expressed a desire, if mandated by COSLA leaders, to table a full response to the Teachers’ Side proposal on use of time following next week’s meeting.
The Scottish Government’s representatives were unable to offer any timescales on the response of the Cabinet Secretary for Education to the Teachers’ Side proposal tabled by the EIS in September. This was despite indicating that at the last meeting of the working group, several weeks ago, that a response could be expected within a “couple of weeks”. The Teachers’ Side made clear its disappointment that no response appeared to be forthcoming from the Cabinet Secretary.
SG “Proposals” to reduce Weekly Class Contact Time
The Scottish Government made announcements in the press this morning that proposals will be lodged at the SNCT regarding reducing weekly class contact and some other issues. These proposals were not mentioned by any Scottish Government representative in the SNCT meeting yesterday and it is concerning that these announcements were made outwith the agreed collective bargaining machinery of the SNCT and directly to the media.
Late this afternoon, the EIS received the Scottish Government’s proposals for consideration by the SNCT. It is probable that our ballot has focused minds, but there is significant progress still to be made before a satisfactory resolution to the current dispute can be achieved. We remain committed to negotiations; however, we are clear that the workload dispute will not be resolved until we have an acceptable agreement on reducing workload through class contact reduction. A red line remains on the use of the time freed up from class contact reduction - it must be allocated to teachers’ preparation and correction time. The EIS statutory ballot will not be affected in any way unless we have an agreement at the SNCT that meets our aspirations.
It remains the case that the best way for EIS members to get an improvement to workload is to vote in our ballot: vote early, and vote yes to strike action and yes to action short of strike.