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This week, Scotland’s teachers submitted their pay claim for the coming year. Arrangements for teachers’ salaries are made – at least in theory – through the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers, which is made up of unions, local government (who actually employ teachers) and the Scottish Government (which actually holds the purse strings and is, in effect, the decision-maker).
As of 1 August this year, teachers are pushing for a 6.5% pay increase across the board, which the EIS describes as being “slightly above the current rate of inflation”.
Between April 2022 and June 2023, inflation never fell below 7.3% and reached a peak of 9.6%, so although the latest official inflation figure is 5.2%, that doesn’t paint a full picture of how living costs have risen in recent years. And of course, inflation falling just means prices go up a little less quickly.
The EIS also argues that the actual value of teachers’ salaries has fallen since 2008, and that a 6.5% increase now would be “a modest step towards restoring teachers' pay to the levels established in the Teaching Profession for the 21st Century agreement”.
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Scotland – as well as many other countries – is also struggling to recruit teachers, especially in subject areas where graduates........