NASUWT Scotland to ballot members over lack of progress on class time pledge

Members of NASUWT – The Teachers’ Union in Scotland will be balloted for industrial action following a lack of progress on a pledge to reduce class contact time for teachers.

The union said the move follows the “failure” of the Scottish Government to make “significant progress” on its manifesto commitment to reduce teachers’ maximum class contact time from 22.5 to 21 hours per week.

The ballot, expected to open in mid-November, will ask members to support both strike action and action short of strike action.

The commitment to cut maximum class contact time from 22.5 to 21 hours per week was included in the Scottish National Party’s 2021 election manifesto and later set out in the government’s Programme for Government that same year. It was to be delivered within the current parliamentary term.

Union representatives said “no tangible progress” had been made on the issue despite the next election approaching.

Matt Wrack, NASUWT general secretary, said: “We are now more than four years on from the 2021 Scottish Parliament election but not only are teachers yet to see any promised reduction in the class contact time, their workloads have actually increased during this period.

“We have exhausted all avenues to try to get the Government and COSLA to agree to concrete measures to achieve this commitment, but it is now evident that the promise to the profession is not going to be met during this Parliament.”

He added: “Where ministers and employers continue to fail our teachers, we will stand up for their right to working conditions which would enable them to deliver the highest quality of learning for our children and young people.” 

Mike Corbett, NASUWT National Official for Scotland, said: “The commitment on class contact time was a recognition by the Scottish Government that additional time away from the classroom was necessary to give teachers sufficient time and space to plan, prepare and assess pupils’ work in order to help students achieve their best and raise attainment.

“Since 2024 we’ve had agreements to work “at pace” and the establishment of working groups by the Scottish Government and COSLA to make meaningful progress on class contact time reduction. But the reality is that teachers today are arguably worse off in terms of their workloads and working hours than they were in 2021 when this commitment was first made.”

He added: “A reduction in class contact time is as needed now, if not more so, than in 2021. It is regrettable that we have been forced to declare a trade dispute and move to a ballot in order to try to force the government to give teachers the working conditions it itself acknowledges they require to do the job effectively.”