'Don't take Scots schools back to the Victorian era' says teaching union

THE leader of Scotland's largest teaching union will today criticise the Scottish Government and council employers over "on-going attacks" on education.

The Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) president Kay Barnett will promise "strong resistance" to moves to cut jobs, pay and resources for schools and will accuse the council leaders' body, the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (Cosla), of having "contempt" for teachers.

Speaking at the start of the union's annual congress in Perth today Ms Barnett will also warn cuts threaten to take Scottish schools back to the days of the Industrial Revolution.

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The congress is expected to be heated with several local associations calling for industrial action over issues including pensions, increased hours and moves to casualise the profession.

"Embedded within the general threat to education provision is, undeniably, the on-going attack on the conditions of service of Scottish teachers," she will tell delegates.

Ms Barnett will criticise Cosla for a raft of controversial proposals, including new testing of teachers to prove their competence and short-term contracts for promoted staff.

"Cosla's current proposals boldly display a basic lack of trust in the entire Scottish teaching profession and, should they come to fruition, would not deliver a teaching profession fit for the 21st century but a teaching profession not even fit for the 19th century," she said.

"Talk about turning the clock back to the days of the Industrial Revolution."

At least six motions submitted to the conference threaten industrial action over issues ranging from pensions, teaching contracts and supply teaching to pay cuts and budget reductions.

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Local associations across Scotland are demanding some kind of industrial action in areas including Glasgow, South Lanarkshire and North Lanarkshire.

With the threat of protest marches and picket lines at school gates by disaffected teachers, concern is mounting in the education circle over an impending crisis. A recent review of how teachers are trained has called for key changes.

Keir Bloomer, an education consultant and former education director, said: "Scotland has the benefit of a strong long-term vision in the form of Curriculum for Excellence.

"The source of strength for our education system is that we have an overall vision."

However, he warned budget cuts would inevitably have a detrimental effect on pupils.

He said: "Of course it will.If we accept that we are not wasting funding on education at the moment, then it follows that if you take away resources there will be problems.

"We will inevitably suffer problems as teachers will have less time to prepare lessons which will affect individual children."

Labour education spokesman Ken McIntosh said: "I don't believe we have an education crisis in Scotland, but we are going in reverse compared to the years of investment and building new schools under Labour.

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"All the progress we made is being threatened. The SNP and education secretary Mike Russell are very good at saying what parents want to hear but delivering nothing.

"They need to stop hiding behind local councils on cuts."

Mr Russell said he was very "keen" to develop a positive future for Scottish education. He said: "The current reviews into teacher education and teacher employment will be significant milestones in ensuring we continue to attract only the very best into teaching and that professional development is at the heart of everything we do."

He said international statistics published by the Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) showed Scotland was on a par with other world leading economies.

However, Mr Russell admitted Scotland needed to push on further.

He said: "The continued success of Curriculum for Excellence and implementation of the Literacy Action Plan will ensure that we keep moving forward, despite the budget cuts being forced on us by the UK government.

"Despite such moves, we have protected local government's share of the budget and have also believe the SNCT (Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers] agreement on teachers' pay and conditions is the best deal possible, securing important commitments to further reduce teacher unemployment."

Other issues expected to spark heated debate at the conference over the next three days in Perth, include problems delivering the new Curriculum for Excellence, schools not being ready to delivery new qualifications to be introduced in 2013 and councils using the new system to introduce cuts.

However, international experts had an optimistic view of Scotland's education system.

Professor Jarkko Hautamaki, Pisa expert at Helsinki University, said: "Scotland is very comparable to Finland in terms of culture and society. Scotland does quite well in the Pisa rankings."