EXCLUSIVE: Mystery teacher behind viral letter hits back at Scottish Government response

A mystery teacher behind a viral letter raising concerns about Scotland's education system has hit back at the Scottish Government's response.

Earlier this week we revealed the anonymous letter that was sent to our newsroom and highlighted a string of problems, including growing workloads, dwindling resources and fears amongst teachers to speak out.

We shared it as it went viral on social media, being shared thousands of times.

Yesterday it was brought up at First Minister's Questions, with First Minister Nicola Sturgeon insisting the government is doing all it can to tackle the concerns raised.

But the author has now sent a second letter to our newsroom - a response to what the Scottish Government had to say.

It is once again addressed to Education Secretary John Swinney and is signed off simply as 'A Scottish Teacher'.

You can read it here:

"Dear Mr Swinney,

Thank you for responding to my letter. However, I do not think that your response has gone anywhere near addressing the issues that I have raised. You began your response by stating that you are taking action to reduce workload and bureaucracy. I would challenge you to find me a teacher that doesn’t work over 10 hours above their contracted hours each week. The job is littered with bureaucracy, which means that you have less time to concentrate on the most important part of the job, which is teaching children.

In my letter I talked about how you had put extra money into recruiting new teachers, but as I said, this is very much a short term solution to a long term problem. What I want to know is what you are going to do to ensure that these teachers stay in the job? The very fact that the letter has had so many shares should show you the extent of the problem and that more needs to be done. I was saddened by some of the comments made by retired teachers and people who have left the profession, but completely understand why people are walking away.

Finally, the very fact that your only response for the verbal and physical abuse that teachers and support staff have to put up with on a daily basis is to point us in the direction of the guidance on preventing and managing school exclusions shows a lack of understanding in this area. The problems are far deeper than a document providing some strategies to deal with challenging behaviour. Did you read the comments that teachers, ex teachers, support staff and parents were writing? I certainly did. I am sure if you presented this information to the teacher who said she had several ASN children in a class of 19, she would not find that an adequate response. Behaviour is a major issue. Not just for teachers and school staff. But the comments also highlight the concerns of parents who feel that their children are not getting the education they deserve, because inclusion is not doing what it was set up to do. Please take these comments seriously. These people are your electorate, and we deserve more than the answers that you have provided.

Kind regards,

A Scottish Teacher"

We asked education group Connect (formally the Scottish Parent Teacher Council) their thoughts on the situation.

Eleanor Coner from the group said: "It wasn't really an answer, it wasn't giving reassurance to this teacher who is obviously at his or her wits end in order to write that letter. It was a pretty standard political answer.

"I think parents will recognise alot of the issues this teacher has raised in this letter and I hope the Scottish Government will listen. I hope they can have a constructive debate around the issues because it is not something we can ignore."