John Swinney asks teaching unions for 'specific ideas' to help cut workload
New Education Secretary John Swinney has challenged teaching unions to submit "specific, tangible ideas" to help cut workload by the end of this week.
New Education Secretary John Swinney has challenged teaching unions to submit "specific, tangible ideas" to help cut workload by the end of this week.
The Deputy First Minister said he had taken "early action" in his role to tackle the problem, but added that he wanted to collaborate with others to help make "progress quickly on this important issue".
He has now written to unions, including the Educational Institute of Scotland, Scottish Secondary Teachers' Association, and the NASUWT Scotland, urging them to "provide me with focused and deliverable ideas of what further actions should be taken, and by whom, to further reduce workload for teachers".
The move was revealed ahead of a Scottish Government education summit, where Mr Swinney and First Minister Nicola Sturgeon will speak to teachers' representatives, young people, education experts, council leaders and opposition politicians.
The Deputy First Minister said: "In the last few weeks I have met many teachers and it is clear one of the key challenges to be addressed is teachers' workload.
"I took early action to reduce workload for teachers and ensure the greatest possible clarity around the curriculum. But I am keen to work with the teaching unions, local authorities, schools and other stakeholders to make further progress quickly on this important issue.
"That is why I have asked the teaching unions to provide me with their own specific, tangible ideas to reduce unnecessary workload for teachers and to de-clutter and streamline approaches in education."
With young people "at the heart of what we are trying to achieve" Mr Swinney stressed that suggestions should reflect the "key principles" of the Curriculum for Excellence reforms and also "protect the integrity of our national qualifications".
He said: "The summit will bring together teachers' representatives, young people, education experts, representatives of local authorities, unions, political leaders and others to discuss the actions required to close the educational attainment gap and raise standards for all children in Scotland.
"We intend to move quickly to ensure the outcome of my letter to unions, and the discussions during today's summit, inform a bold education delivery plan that we will publish before the end of this month."
Labour leader Kezia Dugdale, who will attend Wednesday's meeting, said the summit "must be a spur to bold action", as she restated her proposal to raise extra cash by increasing the charge on high earners when Holyrood gets powers over income tax.
Ms Dugdale stated: "Under the SNP Government spending on education and skills has been cut by 10% - more than £860 million. Hundreds of millions of pounds of cuts to local services like education are coming down the line. These are the cuts that will see fewer staff working in our schools and will hold back our young people.
"At today's summit Nicola Sturgeon must give a firm commitment to ending the cuts and using the powers of the Scottish Parliament to invest in education - that starts with a 50p top rate of tax on the richest few earning more than £150,000. The richest 1% must pay their fair share so we can expand opportunity for all.
"Having lost their majority in Parliament the SNP face a choice - they can work with parties like Labour to invest in education and give our young people the best chance in life, or they can work with the Tories to keep cutting into our nation's future."