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Stand up for Quality Education
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The campaigning work on SU4QE continues. We will soon be writing to the First Minister and asking members to write to their MSP, asking them to support Education funding in the negotiations and decisions around the Scottish Government’s draft budget.
Another national focus of the SU4QE campaign will be the forthcoming statutory ballot for industrial action in Glasgow against the cuts to teacher numbers. This is an important part of the fight for wider education funding – including the promised extra 3,500 teachers by 2026.
Further campaign actions and details of the lobbying of MSPs to follow…
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EIS Evidence
The Scottish Covid Inquiry is gathering evidence about the impact of the pandemic on Education.
Following the submission of detailed written evidence in the summer, the General Secretary gave oral evidence on behalf of the EIS to the Inquiry on Monday 18th November. The evidence session can be viewed here.
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Survey on Impact of the Pandemic
As part of the evidence-gathering process, the Inquiry is also keen to hear from individual teachers and other education professionals about their experiences.
The Inquiry has created two surveys for:
- Professionals in any early learning and childcare settings; and
- Primary, secondary and additional support needs (ASN) teachers, school management and/or educational support professionals in state and independent schools.
If members would like to contribute to this and make their voices heard, they can access the relevant survey link here. We have been advised that it should take around 15 minutes to complete and will close on Friday, 29th November 2024.
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St Andrew's Day March and Rally: 30th November
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Every year on St Andrew’s Day, the STUC organises an Anti-Racism and Anti-Fascism march in Glasgow, highlighting Scotland’s long-standing commitment to inclusivity, solidarity with refugees, and the rejection of far-right ideologies. The theme for this year’s march, Resilient and Rising: Marching for 40 Years, reflects both the enduring strength and ongoing struggles of anti-racist movements in Scotland.
The event takes place on Saturday, 30 November 2024 at 10:30am in Glasgow Green (muster at the McLennan Arch) where the march will start and proceed to Adelaide Place (209 Bath St, Glasgow G2 4HZ) for an indoor rally at 12pm. Everyone is welcome to join, and you are encouraged to bring your placards and union flags.
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Still We Rise, EIS Social Justice and Solidarity Conference
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Registrations are now open for our equality focused two-day conference exploring how educators and trade unionists can rise up to create a fairer and more equal world for all. The first day of the conference involves leadership learning for our equality networks, whilst the second day engages all members in the equality agenda.
The full programme for the event, with details on how to register is now available on our website.
Please sign up soon to avoid disappointment.
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EIS Equality Network meetings: Mental health and equality
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The next series of the EIS Equality Network meetings will focus on mental health from an equality perspective, unpacking social justice-informed strategies to supporting the wellbeing of disabled, neurodivergent, LGBT, BAME and women members at work.
To join an Equality Network, and sign up to our sessions, please visit our website.
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SQA examination data for 2024 revealed a significant number of candidates continue to be dual presented for both National 4 and National 5 in the same subject and that this is due to whole cohorts being dual presented. This is despite national guidance, first issued by the Scottish Government in 2017, which stated that dual presentation should be by individual exception.
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Dual presentation is a significant driver of excess workload for teachers and contributes to the over-assessment of learners. A joint letter, signed by the Chief Examiner, the Chief HM Inspector and the Cabinet Secretary for Education was issued to local authorities in January 2024, to the effect that:
- Under no circumstances should large numbers of candidates be dual presented;
- Presentation decisions must be informed by effective tracking and monitoring of learners’ progress through the Broad General Education;
- Dual presentation would only be appropriate be in a "very limited number of exceptional circumstances," and should involve dialogue with young people and their parents/carers.
If presentation policy in your school is misaligned with the national guidance as set out in the joint letter, please raise this with school management in the first instance, either via your school rep or directly.
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Are you a Probationer Teacher? - EIS Membership and Support
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