Teaching a lesson

TEACHERS could soon follow in balloting for industrial action.

Earlier this month, the Scottish Secondary Teachers’ Association threatened industrial action if the implementation of new national qualifications was not delayed by the Scottish Government. This week, the NUT and NASUWT, the UK’s two largest teaching unions, signed an agreement for joint action in the autumn.

Neil McLean, the local secretary for the Edinburgh branch of NASUWT, said: “Across the UK, the pensions issue is being taken very seriously — would you want a 68-year-old teacher in front of your children?

“Teachers are unhappy. There’s class sizes, the shoddy treatment of supply teachers and general working conditions. There are a lot of things wrong.”