Hugh Reilly: Outside the bubble, now is not the time for industrial action

Published on Tuesday 9 June 2009 19:04

LAST week, the EIS held its annual conference in Perth, though, by the nature of some of the motions passed, the Priory may have been a more appropriate venue.

For example, fraternal greetings from the Fair City included a call by delegates to "implement a campaign, including industrial action, to secure the reduction of all classes in all Scottish schools to a statutory maximum of 20".

When I close my eyes, I can still recall the vivid memories of several EIS conferences I attended although, thanks to a series of professional counselling sessions, the scars run less deep these days.

As a conference survivor, I am well aware how easy it is to get caught up in the somewhat less than febrile conference-hall atmosphere where mind-numbed delegates pass motions on a blink once for "yes" basis.

In my opinion, the call for industrial action should be put on the shelf, and if EIS headquarters doesn't have a shelf, Labour MP, Jim Devine, apparently knows a joiner who could do a cash-in-hand job.

Let's be clear: I support lower class sizes in the early years of school, but Les Miserables who voted for industrial action are misguided if they think chalkies will rush to man the barricades over the issue.

I'm disappointed the minority SNP government has thus far been unable to fully deliver on its election promise, but in terms of the blame game, others are in the frame.

Under the concordat, councils agreed to make "year-on-year progress" to meet class size targets "as quickly as possible". Instead, East Renfrewshire Council has decided to increase class sizes to a maximum of 30 because, if parents who want to send their child to a school outside of their catchment area were to legally challenge a smaller limit, the council could lose.

In some cases, local authorities have expressed outright hostility to smaller pupil numbers. Labour-led Glasgow Council, for example, described the policy as "irresponsible".

Tellingly, when in power for a decade, the previous Labour-Lib Dem coalition did nothing to lower the pupil to teacher ratio in the primary sector.

Worryingly, Ken MacIntosh, Labour's shadow schools minister, appears to have a decidedly schizophrenic take on the issue. On his official website, he says: "Not only do we want to see smaller class sizes but on top of that we don't want to lose our most recently trained graduates to the profession."

This solid endorsement of smaller classes is a tad at odds with his comments following the address made by Graham Donaldson, senior inspector of education, to the parliament's education committee. There, Mr Donaldson stated that the number of pupils in a class is less important than the quality of the teaching they receive.

After the meeting, Mr Macintosh said the senior chief inspector's comments validated Labour's position that quality education was about more than "arbitrary figures".

We'd all like smaller class sizes, more police officers, more nurses – heck, I don't believe I'm writing this – more social workers but, at a time when the public purse is shrinking faster than Gordon Brown's fingernails, now is not the time to strike.

Like other public sector staff, teachers on a permanent contract have been cocooned from the worst effects of the credit crunch, enjoying secure employment and a salary increase at a time when many outside the education bubble have suffered imposed pay cuts and redundancies.

While I believe it is true that lowering class sizes will benefit children, I think the majority of the public will perceive the policy as a navel-gazing activity by teachers hell-bent on achieving a cushier classroom life.

As an EIS member, I will support the democratic will of the professional association, but my best guess is that there will be no need for me to volunteer for picket duty or practice my throaty shout of "Scab!"