Response to McCrone - Summary

General Observations What parents want above all are well-qualified, enthusiastic teachers who are focused on the job in hand and offer inspiration to pupils. They also want consistency and continuity: i.e. as far as is possible, they want the same teacher taking the class for the whole year. We are concerned that teachers' pay should be at an appropriate level and their conditions attractive enough both to satisfy and retain the current teaching force and to attract new recruits.

To this end the following issues must be addressed:
the ageing of the teaching force as evidenced by the findings of the recent survey in Edinburgh that 77% of teachers were over 40 the poor image of teaching as a profession amongst students the prospect for teacher shortages in subject areas following changes in qualification requirements and the ongoing shortage of supply teachers the gender imbalance amongst teachers in both primary and secondary schools.  We are also concerned that any changes in conditions should not be at the expense of children.

Professional issues
Probation should be meaningful Teacher training should include an element on contact with parents School staffing establishments should be sufficient to provide supply cover Teachers should have adequate time for continuing professional development such that it does not interrupt the teaching process
A teacher's workload must be assessed not just on class contact time, but also on the basis of the numbers of pupils in the class and the level of work.

Parent Contact
There should be a survey of parents to find out what they want and expect from contact with teachers
More time should be provided for parent- teacher evenings The model in the secondary school should be reviewed, perhaps in favour of a mentor system
School surgeries should be set up to give parents a chance to raise general concerns. Flexibility
Flexibility of staffing is desirable to cover extra curricular activities, homework clubs etc.
Flexibility should be voluntary, not a requirement.
There should be a time allocation/compensation for extra curricular activities.

Management
We support the proposals to simplify the current management structures and have three grades of teacher - senior management, professional grade and teacher The professional grade in secondary schools should essentially take over from Principal teachers
Responsibility should be determined with reference to actual workload

Pay
Pay should be adequate to reward teachers and to attract new recruits Pay differentials should be based on clearly understood and objective criteria e.g. seniority, workload and responsibility
We do not support "performance related pay" because we do not feel "performance" could be adequately and fairly assessed
Some consideration should be given to paying teachers for extra work and for working in adverse conditions.

Forum for setting pay
The forum for setting pay is immaterial as long as pay is determined by Government policy The way forward is to separate pay from Government policy so that teachers can have confidence that any trade-off of conditions for enhanced pay does not result in a permanent deterioration in conditions and a gradual erosion in pay.