Meeting of the Parliament 28 May 2025
The cabinet secretary cannot see that we have gaps and that we have teachers without jobs in some areas and in some subjects. Only the Government has the overview and can provide the necessary strategic approach to support local authorities in the shared responsibility for the teaching and schools workforce. The cabinet secretary cannot see that that is crucial, which is exactly why we are in the situation that we are in today and why schools face the problems that they face.
Not accepting the failure to deliver on teacher numbers, for example—a key SNP manifesto commitment—and on the workforce plan, which is overdue by more than a year, shows a disconnect from the reality in schools. The reality is that the teaching profession is in crisis. To avoid having teachers without jobs, subjects without teachers and pupils without stability, we need the Government-led workforce plan. The lack of a strategic overview on having the right staff in the right place drives the crisis that we see and compounds the lack of support for pupils with ASN. As the amendment in Miles Briggs’s name highlights, it creates an environment in schools where the mental health and mental wellbeing of staff and pupils is unsupported, which leads to distressed behaviour and, in some cases, violence. Ultimately, as the Educational Institute of Scotland campaign highlights, it undermines quality education in Scotland.
However, none of that is new. Last year, Scottish Labour warned of the growing precarity in the profession and of the damage that short-term contracts and underemployment were doing to teacher morale and retention. The Parliament supported our motion to address those issues then but, a year on, little has changed. That is why we will try again today, through our amendment, to get the Government to recognise the scale of the problem and to act accordingly.
Our amendment calls for a consistent national system of supply in order to reduce the uncertainty of work from week to week and to widen the pool from which schools can access teachers. It calls for pupil equity funding to be made permanent, so that schools can plan ahead. It calls for reform of the teacher census, so that we know where the gaps are and where resources need to go. It calls for alignment of teacher training places with workforce needs, to address the ridiculous situation where qualified and experienced primary teachers cannot access permanent jobs but, at the same time, are burning out. We also have some subjects without teachers. Lastly, in relation to subject-specific issues, we are calling for clear data on the number of senior phase lessons that are being taught by non-subject specialists. That is the action that is needed to save the teaching workforce in Scotland.
I move amendment S6M-17669.1, to insert at end:
", and further calls on the Scottish Government to develop a consistent national system of supply to support supply teachers across local authorities, make Pupil Equity Funding permanent to empower schools to properly plan, address concerns with the teacher census to ensure that it is known where staff are and where they are needed, ensure places on teacher training are aligned to workforce planning needs, including in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects, and collect and publish data around the number of senior phase lessons being taught by non-subject specialist teachers."
15:11Motions, questions or amendments mentioned by their reference code.