Portfolio Question Time – in the Scottish Parliament at 12:49 pm on 30 January 2025.
To ask the Scottish Government how it is engaging with local authorities to enable supply teachers to work in and across a number of different local authority areas. (S6O-04274)
Supply teachers have flexibility over the work that they choose to do, in line with the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers’ code of practice on short-term supply, and they may add themselves to multiple local authority supply lists, as they see fit. Supply teaching is an important way for teachers to work flexibly and according to their individual needs, when they choose to do so.
The Scottish Government is also providing local authorities with £186.5 million next year to restore overall teacher numbers across the country to 2023 levels.
I am grateful for that answer, and I appreciate that much of the matter is for local authorities.
Some of the casework that I have received from constituents who are supply teachers indicates that they are struggling to access opportunities in neighbouring local authorities. Schools also sometimes struggle to get supply teachers from other local authorities, including across the various Lothians local authorities. That has made it challenging for schools to get supply teachers, on occasion. Would there be any convening power or other engagement that the Scottish Government could have to improve systems and co-ordination in order to better marry supply with demand, in particular between neighbouring and nearby local authorities?
Ben Macpherson has raised an interesting point. He outlined that responsibility as the employer rests with local authorities, but there is a role for the Government in terms of a convening power. I am pleased that, through our new agreement with local government through the budget process, we have been able to get agreement with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities on a new education assurance board. I will be keen to raise the issue there.
More broadly, the differing approaches to employment that are taken by local authorities can create challenges for teachers who are looking to obtain employment via the supply list. I will certainly take that matter to the education assurance board, because it is worth considering at national level.
The reality is that teachers are being left somewhat in limbo. I have said much about that in the Parliament, so I will not repeat it.
However, I will explain what teachers are saying. One has said that they are now
“stuck on supply and have lost hope of ever getting another temp contract”.
Another, with five to eight years of experience, has said:
“I have worked in 3 councils in Scotland and have never had anything more than a Fixed Term Contract ... In this session 24/25 I didn’t get anything until the 3rd week of the term”
and
“I would love to have a bit of security, even just for a year again so I can save some money”.
Those are the experiences of teachers who are working in supply today. Will the cabinet secretary now admit that workforce planning in education is not working? What will she do to turn that around?
I thank Pam Duncan-Glancy for her interest in the matter. The workforce planning is informed by modelling by our universities, which give advice to the Government and local authorities. That is undertaken every year at the national level.
It is also worth recounting that, in 2023, we reduced the numbers in teacher training. I have on my desk advice to that end for the next financial year. I am not going to give that confirmation today in the Parliament, but it is important that we train the right number of teachers.
The other thing to be mindful of is that some teachers opt to take supply roles, and we need to be mindful of the choice that is inherent in that. For example, some teachers want to stay in the central belt, where there are fewer permanent posts than there might be in other parts of the country. That might be because they are not, for good reason, able to move for those posts. Since 2014, the number of permanent posts has remained relatively stable, at approximately 80 per cent.
I accept that there is a challenge here, and I am keen to work with local authority partners on how we resolve it. Pam Duncan-Glancy will recognise the additionality that the Government has provided in the budget, which will go some way towards giving local authorities certainty to create more permanent posts, and I look forward to working with them on the assurance group that I mentioned in my earlier response to the previous question.
The workforce planning has been dreadful for years, and the result is that there are thousands of teachers out there who just cannot get permanent work. Sometimes they are waiting on short-term contracts for up to seven years.
When will the Government get on top of workforce planning to ensure that the current situation is not repeated, so that we get the right teachers in the right places? There are some places that have shortages in key subjects. When will we get the balance and the workforce planning right?
I do not necessarily agree with Mr Rennie’s assertions about workforce planning. It is not the responsibility only of the Government, but of local authorities. Every year, we undertake consultation in partnership with key stakeholders—including universities, as I mentioned—through the teacher workforce planning advisory group.
I talked about the reduction in intake measures in recent years. I am currently considering advice on that. However, it is hugely important that we work with local authorities on areas where there are gaps.
I remind Willie Rennie of a point that I have made in the chamber previously. Since the pandemic, we have seen far fewer teachers opting to tick the preference waiver payment box, which incentivises teachers to go anywhere in the country by giving them an up-front payment of £8,000. Fewer teachers are opting to move around the country—that creates challenges. Such challenges exist not only in education but in health and other parts of our public services. We need to work with local authorities to solve them, and the new assurance group gives us an opportunity to do that.