Key issues facing Scottish school education

The new system, which was implemented last August, puts an emphasis on cross-subject collaboration. However, with teachers being increasing stretched as assistants and resources are cut, there is not enough time for all the collaboration and preparation to be done.

Thousands of new teachers are out of work as councils cut classroom posts. Now the latest pay deal has seen wages and working conditions eroded, while public service pensions face changes. As a result, morale has plummeted. How will they encourage people to join the profession and persuade good teachers to stay?

However much people accept these as inevitable, education will bear more than its fair share of the cuts as the biggest part of any council's budget. Staff are being cut, reducing pupils' choice and increasing class sizes, something the EIS and many others regard as harmful to education.

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This latest review of the profession will examine how the last settlement - The Teachers' Agreement in 2001, also known as the McCrone Deal - has worked. It is widely regarded as having boosted the profession and morale, raising salaries, improving conditions and attracting the best into the job. However, the question being asked is whether it has improved education.

A recent review of teacher training at universities which was over seen by former chief inspector of schools, Graham Donaldson, called for changes to improve teacher standards, including literacy and numeracy tests for applicants.

New qualifications to replace the discredited Standard Grade, which is seen as too easy and insufficient preparation for Highers, controversially will mean many pupils can leave school without having sat any externally marked exam. Also, many teachers, including the EIS, would like to see the introduction of these delayed by at least a year to give teachers enough time to adapt to the change.

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