The Scottish Government has been warned it risks undoing a decade of stability in the classroom if it mishandles the McCormac Review of teacher employment.
The review, commissioned by Scottish ministers earlier this year and published on Tuesday (.PDF link), makes a number of recommendations for key changes to teachers” working hours and practices, but maintains in principle the current 35-hour working week and pay structure.
Ronnie Smith, general secretary of the country”s main teaching union, the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS), said: “The initial overall impression is that the report weakens key contractual protections ” and strengthens managerialist, as opposed to collegiate, approaches.
“Under the guise of ‘flexibility” even greater burdens and controls are proposed for teachers who will have to rely on the benevolence of the headteacher to spare them from excessive workload.”
The proposals to reconfigure working time, he added, would not be well received by teachers and, if implemented, would require a “clock-watching approach that sits uncomfortably with enhanced professionalism”.
Jim Docherty, deputy general secretary of the Scottish Secondary Teachers Association (SSTA), said the union rejected the review”s findings, and that the report suggested the committee had little real understanding of a teacher”s role.
He said any changes to terms and conditions had to be agreed by the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers, and that the review, as it stood, was likely to be given short shrift by the body.
The review, carried out by Professor Gerry McCormac, principal and vice-chancellor of Stirling University, was ordered by the Scottish Government to follow on from the McCrone inquiry in 2001, which set out the existing pay and conditions structure.
In his report, Professor McCormac recommended teachers should be re-accredited throughout their careers with “professional updates” and that education should be seen as a continuum building progressively across a teacher”s career.
Teachers should also be required to stay on school premises during the school day.FlexibilityThe report said there should be no increase in class contact time for teachers, but there should be an emphasis on flexibility.
No changes have been recommended to the current 35-hour contracted working week, but the report says flexibility should be allowed throughout the week to allow teachers to undertake “effective collegiate work”.
Professor McCormac said: “Our recommendations enforce existing good practice. Our advice on contact time will increase flexibility in the teaching profession, and revitalising professional development will enhance teacher education, further improving the quality of teachers in Scotland”.
Education Minister Michael Russell gave the report a broad welcome and said he had already contacted the various interested parties to discuss the findings.
Ken Macintosh, Scottish Labour”s education spokesman, said: “Teachers will be anxious at many of the recommendations in the review but also relieved that the report affirms the general principles behind the original McCrone agreement including those covering pay and conditions.
“With the number of teachers plummeting under the SNP, teachers are already under significant pressure.”
Liz Smith, Scottish Conservative education spokeswoman, said: “I warmly welcome this report, which I believe has provided a very thorough analysis of the main challenges facing the teaching profession.
“The recent Donaldson report made clear just how much the teaching profession will have to adapt in the years ahead and why, a decade on, there is a need to review the McCrone settlement.”