Scottish schools have been contending with a “fundamental shift” in behaviour since the pandemic, education secretary Jenny Gilruth said this afternoon.
She made the comments a day after revealing that, before schools break up for summer, the Scottish government would publish .
Today, in an address to the Scottish Secondary Teachers’ Association (SSTA) annual conference in Stirling, Ms Gilruth - herself a former teacher - said that after becoming education secretary in 2023, she was “struck by all the stories that my friends who are still teachers tell me - but also the feeling from the profession, coming from professional associations - that [behaviour] was a real challenge post-pandemic, and things had fundamentally shifted”.
She added that, after the pandemic, “things became more challenging in terms of behaviour and relationships”.
Schools ‘pick up mantle’ with phone bans
That had led to work nationally around gender-based violence and the impact of mobile phones, Ms Gilruth said. On the latter, she noted that schools in Edinburgh had this week “picked up the mantle” by banning phones from classes.
She also spoke of her concerns that “lots of teachers don’t know about the ” published in August 2024, and that “many schools have not looked to update or respond to [it]”.
The education secretary said that she and local authorities’ body Cosla had written to education directors’ body ADES “to encourage them to raise awareness of this”.
She added that “we will not help to support improved behaviour if we’re not all working together to the same end”.
Also today, shortly after Ms Gilruth addressed the SSTA, the EIS teaching union announced that it would be opening an industrial action ballot over teachers’ class-contact time.
The education secretary told SSTA members: “I’ve got a commitment on reducing class contact that I’ve not delivered yet, and I want to deliver it. I need [local authorities] not to cut teacher numbers to let me deliver it.”
She added that “getting them to freeze learning hours was really important” - she expressed relief that controversial plans in Falkirk had not gone ahead - and said she hoped to make progress in a meeting with first minister John Swinney and Cosla at the end of May.
Ms Gilruth spoke before SSTA general secretary Seamus Searson was due to address the conference and ramp up pressure for a better teacher pay offer.
The education secretary, in a wry response during a Q&A following her SSTA speech, said: “I think what would really strengthen the unions’ hands is if there is an ask to reduce class contact connected to that pay claim and we look again at conditions.
“If you do that, you force my hand and you force Cosla’s hand to deliver - it’s just a suggestion.”
Breathing new life into PEF
Ms Gilruth also talked about the changing use of money from the Scottish Attainment Challenge and the Pupil Equity Fund (PEF), almost a decade after they came into being to drive innovative ways of closing the “poverty-related attainment gap”.
She suggested it was time to refresh them and create what she dubbed “PEF plus”.
She said that 10 years ago, there might have been surprise at how PEF money is now used, when it often “plugs gaps” left by other services. The education secretary also pointed out that most schools she visits now have a food bank and often provide clothing.
The Scottish Attainment Challenge was also “helping to create jobs” - over 3,000 extra staff across Scotland, including just under 1,000 teachers, she said.
It had been “a great investment” and should continue in some form, but money did not go as far now - given rising prices - and it was essential to “think about what comes next”.
Earlier today, outgoing SSTA president Stuart Hunter, in a wide-ranging speech, warned that a “crisis” in additional support needs was “overwhelming” school staff.
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