Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Teachers claim council chiefs are ‘sabotaging the profession’ as they overwhelmingly reject faculties plan

Post Thumbnail

Teachers in Dundee have accused council chiefs of “sabotaging the profession” after overwhelmingly rejecting a switch to a faculty structure in city schools.

The Scottish Secondary Teachers’ Association (SSTA), Dundee’s second largest teaching union, balloted members on plans to move to a system that would see individual educators given responsibility for a group of subjects.

Dundee City Council is the only local authority in Scotland still using principal teachers for individual subjects and councillors agreed to push ahead with the change as part of a range of budget cuts announced earlier this year.

More than 60% of SSTA members in the city responded to the ballot, with 95% saying they do not support the move to a faculty structure and the same proportion reporting they do not believe it will raise attainment for their pupils.

Members expressed doubts over suggestions of benefits for learners with 89% responding they do not have a clear understanding of how “Dundee’s vision to raise attainment” will be met through the plan and 94% expecting it will increase workloads.

SSTA district secretary Peter Thorburn claimed council officers have “refused to listen” to concerns and said he believes they intend to push ahead without reaching an agreement with union leaders.

“As a consequence, the Dundee Negotiating Committee for Teachers has gone into dispute and further meetings with the council are being sought,” he said.

“It appears the council is unprepared to meet the teacher union representatives and seek to break the deadlock”.

Seamus Searson, the union’s general secretary, said the comments received from members as a part of the ballot “speak for themselves”.

Many of those responding stressed the council has little or no evidence to support the assertion the move will raise attainment, and said it is likely to cause more teachers to leave the profession or decide not to train in the first place.

Others described the move as a “cost cutting exercise” and insisted it would make career progression more difficult for teachers in Dundee.

One educator wrote: “Subjects will suffer, children will suffer.”

Dundee City Council’s children and families services convener Stewart Hunter said he can “fully respect” concerns the proposals will see a reduction in the number of management posts and the impact this could have on those applying for roles.

Councillor Stewart Hunter

He said: “While we have made significant improvements on secondary school attainment, exam results and positive destinations in the last ten years, the recent attainment report showed for the first time in a number of years we had a decrease in those indicators.”

Mr Hunter insisted it made “no sense” for opposition councillors to complain about other local authorities performing at a higher level while also suggesting the current system in Dundee is a better model.

“Faculties are just part of a series of measures that we are implementing to improve our results in secondary schools,” he said.

“The attainment report showed that our investment in the Early Years and Primary is starting to pay off. We need to do the same in our secondary schools. Our young people deserve nothing less.”