This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
Listen
Committee of Inquiry is way forward on teachers' pay
17/09/1999
An independent Committee of Inquiry to make recommendations on a new pay and conditions package for teachers and on future arrangements for determining their pay and conditions is to be set up by the Scottish Executive, Minister for Children and Education Sam Galbraith announced today.
This decision was taken following rejection by the teacher unions of the latest pay proposals by the Scottish Joint Negotiating Committee (SJNC).
Mr Galbraith said:
"I recognise and value the hard work and dedication of teachers. They hold our children's future in their hands. Our plans to raise standards in Scottish schools, and to give our children the best start in life, cannot be achieved without them.
"The SJNC legislation gives the force of law to its agreements, not just on teachers' pay but also on conditions including teachers hours, job descriptions and class sizes. The rejection of these latest proposals for modernisation of teachers' pay and conditions shows - for the second time this decade - that the SJNC is a form of negotiating machinery not suited to modernisation.
"Teachers themselves have not benefited from this pay bargaining machinery. The pay of unpromoted teachers in Scotland at the top of their scale trails behind that paid to their counterparts south of the border.
"This demonstrates that the SJNC cannot deliver a modernised and professional teaching force to meet the demands of the next century.
"I can therefore confirm today that I intend to bring forward proposals to the Scottish Parliament as soon as possible to repeal the SJNC legislation.
"I recognise, however, that change and improvement should not be imposed. We require a great deal of our teaching profession and will require still more in future. The proposals arising from the latest negotiations clearly now need to be considered fully and a way forward set out on a firm basis of evidence.
"I have therefore decided to establish a Committee of Inquiry into teachers' pay and conditions with a remit to chart a way forward to ensure that we give our children the education they deserve in the new Millennium.
"The Committee will be expected to invite evidence from a range of interests in the world of education and draw on examples of best practice from elsewhere in the public and private sectors. It will have eight members chosen for their independence, their knowledge of education issues, expertise in personnel and management structures, and their ability to bring new thinking to the issues surrounding the teaching profession. I will ask the Committee to report by May next year."
Measures for removing the legal basis of the SJNC would, if agreed by the Parliament, come into effect next year. However, Mr Galbraith emphasised, the SJNC will be expected to determine and agree a teachers' pay settlement for the current year.
He continued:
"The way teachers are paid, their management and career structures, the conditions in which they work and the support facilities they have available to them, are key issues in the drive for improvement. Numerous initiatives designed both to benefit children and to improve teachers' conditions are already in hand: reduction in class sizes, introduction of classroom assistants, improvements in ICT facilities, systems and training, a commitment to replace and modernise school buildings, plans to improve continuous professional development opportunities for teachers.
"Our goal is a more effective management structure in our schools, responsive to the demands of the next century, and one that rewards, attracts, retains and motivates the teaching profession."
Sam Galbraith concluded:
"I am sure we all agree that it is in no-one's interest, least of all our children's, to allow the present difficulties to lead to disruption and further discontent. The Committee of Inquiry provides an ideal opportunity to develop new thinking which will improve the conditions and rewards of the teaching profession in the future."
NOTES TO NEWS EDITORS
1. The Chairman and membership of the Committee will be announced soon.
2. The terms of reference are:
The Committee is requested to inquire widely into:
(a) how teachers' pay, promotion structures and conditions of service should be changed in order to ensure a committed, professional and flexible teaching force which will secure high and improving standards of school education for all children in Scotland into the new Millennium; and
(b) the future arrangements for determining teachers' pay and conditions in Scotland following the removal of the statutory basis of the Scottish Joint Negotiating Committee (School Education) now proposed by the Scottish Executive;
and to make recommendations.
3. In framing its recommendations, the Committee:
(a) must have regard to public expenditure issues including affordability and the implications of the Government's inflation target for the general level of public sector pay settlements; and
(b) should take into account the following principles:
i. teachers' pay should be at a level to recruit, retain and motivate high quality teaching staff;
ii. there should be a clear and demonstrable link between additional pay for teachers and revised conditions and working practices, which meet the need for modernisation and higher standards;
iii. there should be opportunities for career advancement for teachers, especially teachers of acknowledged excellence, who wish to continue to deploy their skills in the classroom;
iv. the structure of pay and conditions of service should be designed to promote and reward effectiveness in both teaching and school management; and
v. management structures in schools should be sufficiently flexible to meet changing needs and challenges while ensuring effective delivery of the daily responsibilities of each school.
In conducting its inquiry, the Committee may wish to commission research and invite evidence from teachers and teachers' representatives, local authorities, the Scottish Executive, parents' representatives, further and higher education, industry, commerce and other parties interested in school education. It should also seek to draw on examples of best practice from elsewhere in the public and private sectors and overseas.
4. The Committee's recommendations:
(a) may cover any or all of the issues set out in the SJNC management side's offer to the teachers' side dated 20 August 1999; but
(b) should not address the question of any pay increase for 1999 which will remain a matter for the management and staff sides of the SJNC (SE).
News Release: SE0656/1999
17 Sep 1999