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Author: Moira Hulme, Professor of Education, University of the West of Scotland
Original article: https://theconversation.com/scottish-teachers-to-strike-over-pupil-behaviour-my-research-shows-what-theyre-dealing-with-247525
Teachers at a school in East Dunbartonshire, Scotland, are planning industrial action – not over pay but the behaviour of their pupils.
It’s not the first time school staff in Scotland have taken this step. Teachers at a school in Glasgow took strike action in 2022 over “violent and abusive” pupil behaviour. A 2024 survey of staff in Aberdeen found that many had experienced violence and more than a third had been physically assaulted.
Pupil behaviour is one factor – among others – severely affecting the wellbeing of teachers, as shown in my recent research with colleagues.
Our national research project on teacher workload is a collaboration between the University of the West of Scotland, Cardiff Metropolitan University and Birmingham City University. We asked 1,834 teachers in primary, secondary and special schools in Scotland to fill out online diaries, logging how they spent their time over one week in March 2024.
We found that long hours and high pressure were putting significant strain on teachers’ personal and professional lives.
Time pressures
Our study found that nearly a quarter of teachers’ lesson time was spent on low-level and serious behaviour interruptions. They spent time dealing with distressed behaviour and incidents of verbal and physical aggression, settling the class and working with pupils on individual plans to help them engage better with school.
In 2023, research commissioned by the Scottish government on behaviour in schools found 67% of teachers experienced general verbal abuse, 59% physical aggression and 43% physical violence between pupils in the week preceding the survey.
On average, our research found that teachers in Scotland worked 46 hours in a typical week. That is 11 more than their contracted hours. The reasons are complex, but we found patterns that repeated regardless of the kind of school teachers were in, their location or their experience. Teachers’ workload intensified when the demands made of them exceed the support and resources available.
Teachers face increased levels of cultural and linguistic diversity in the classroom, as well as rising numbers of children with additional support needs. Schools’ access to specialist support is falling while pupil needs are rising. Child poverty and poor mental health are contributing to increasing social, emotional and behavioural issues.
We found that teachers spent 58% of the non-teaching time in their contracted hours on planning and preparation to meet the diverse needs of their pupils.
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The remaining 42% was consumed with administrative activities, data management and reporting, communicating with colleagues, parents and external agencies. These demands left teachers with just 35 minutes a week, on average, for professional learning.
High stress and low job satisfaction are driving people out of teaching. Over 75% of the teachers in our study said they were considering leaving the job prior to retirement.
Inclusive education
Another issue affecting teachers in Scotland is the country’s approach to the education of children with additional needs, which differs from the rest of the UK. The default position in Scotland is that all children should be educated in mainstream schools, unless there is compelling evidence that a specialist setting would better serve a child’s educational needs.
But our research identifies growing disquiet among teachers regarding the capacity of Scotland’s education system to fully support this “presumption to mainstream”.
The number of pupils with recorded additional needs in Scottish schools rose by 84% between 2014 and 2023. In 2024, pupils with additional needs in mainstream classes reached a record high of 284,448 pupils. This is 40% of all pupils – a rise from 28.7% in 2018.
Among Scotland’s 2,445 publicly funded schools, 107 are special schools, down from 133 in 2018. A reduction of 392 additional support needs teachers between 2013 and 2023 means a single teacher may now have a caseload of more than 80 pupils.
Worsening conditions
Unfortunately, the pressure on teachers looks set to increase as funding challenges affect teacher numbers.
Scotland’s 32 councils face an overall total budget gap of £585 million in 2024-25. Audit Scotland estimate that this shortfall in funding will increase to £780 million by 2026-27.
A Scottish National Party 2021 manifesto pledge to recruit 3,500 more teachers and reduce teachers’ contact time remains unfulfilled. In 2023-24, 26 of Scotland’s 32 local authorities reduced teacher numbers while the ratio of pupils to teachers rose.
Pressures are particularly acute in Scotland’s largest local authority, Glasgow, and are set to intensify. In 2024, Glasgow City Council employed 5,492 full time equivalent teachers, compared to 5,725 in 2022. In spring 2024, the city proposed cutting 450 teaching posts over three years as part of an “education service reform” to address a £100 million funding shortfall.
In November 2024, parental volunteer group Glasgow City Parents Group failed to secure a judicial review of the council’s education budget cuts. Reducing the teaching workforce across the city by nearly 10% is unlikely to be without consequence for teachers’ workload and the quality of education.
A resilient education workforce requires highly skilled professionals and a supportive professional environment. As the demands made of teachers intensify, they risk being reduced to institutional “shock absorbers” rather than nurturing leaders of learning.
Systematic reform of the school curriculum, national assessment and school inspection is under consideration in Scotland. But this will take place against a backdrop of service demands and budgetary pressures that are deeply affecting teaching staff. This must be addressed in order to avoid compromising learning in Scottish schools.