Given SNP's broken promises, no wonder teachers are on brink of industrial action

Two-thirds of Scotland’s teachers report they are either ‘dissatisfied’ or ‘very dissatisfied’ with their workload

Many people will remember a particular teacher who made a real difference to their lives. However, if that teacher had been overworked, disillusioned and stressed out, would they have made the same life-changing impact?

According to a new survey by the EIS union – of more than 10,700 teachers across Scotland – one in ten teachers work the equivalent of two days a week without pay while more than four in ten work seven hours a week unpaid. Two-thirds said they were either “dissatisfied” or “very dissatisfied” with their workload and only 17.5 per cent were “satisfied” or “very satisfied”.

Later this week, the union will open a consultative ballot on industrial action over the Scottish Government's failure to reduce the ”persistent, excessive workload demands being placed on teachers at all grades and at all stages of their careers”.

Scotland's future depends to a great extent on having highly motivated teachers, not stressed out, overworked ones (Picture: Matt Cardy) | Getty Images

Future depends on well-educated workforce

This has been a long time coming. Four years ago, the SNP promised to reduce the time teachers spend in the classroom by 90 minutes a week "to give them the time they need to lift standards". However EIS general secretary Andrea Bradley said there had been “absolutely no tangible progress towards delivering it, and no proposals as to how it will be delivered”.

This is a familiar story for SNP watchers – the rhetoric can sound good, but seldom leads to tangible, real-world improvements, whether in education, the NHS, the transport network, climate change and so on.

However the failure to address our education system’s worrying slide down international league tables is perhaps the most worrying of all the nationalists’ failures, given this country’s future depends on having a well-educated workforce.

All across the country, teachers want to do their best for the children in their charge but their spirit is being slowly crushed by overly large classes regularly disrupted by children whose additional needs require more specialist care.

Scotland needs teachers to be highly motivated, respected and well paid. For their own sake, for our economy’s, and also for that child who needs just a little extra help to put them on a path to a happy and fulfilled life.