SPTC survey causes a stir!

We told you about the fantastic response from parents to our survey on the cuts in class contact time for teachers, well the results have certainly made some people notice and provoked a few newspaper headlines.

The front page article by Elizabeth Buie in the Times Educational Supplement on Friday 28th July 2006 read: "Who's taking our children's classes?" and went as follows:

Parents have expressed anger that they have been left in the dark about the impact of the forthcoming reduction in class contact time in primary and secondary schools.

A survey by the Scottish Parent Teacher Council has found that most members were unaware of the cut from 23.5 hours to 22.5 hours a week in class contact time, which is being implemented at the start of the next session under the teachers' national agreement.

Respondents from the secondary sector were least aware of the impending changes. Those who did know that the move was happening said that small classes would not be allowed to run in their school and, as a result, the options available for vocational courses, Higher and Advanced Higher would be limited.

Knowledge among parents of primary pupils was more extensive, but often linked to direct contact with the school such as membership of the school board. They said that the reduction in class contact time had led to a second class teacher, a specialist teacher, or the headteacher or depute taking their child's class.

Some said that classroom assistants occasionally took the class - a practice that is outlawed in Scottish schools.

Judith Gillespie, Development Manager of the SPTC, noted that 10% of respondents said assistants sometimes took the class to cover a teacher's "McCrone time" but did not seem to be angry about such a practice, presumably because they were familiar with the assistant.

Ronnie Smith, General Secretary of the Educational Institute of Scotland, (Scotland's largest teaching union), said if such a practice was being permitted, it was wrong and unacceptable, from the pupils' and teachers' perspective.

The two class teacher situation prompted a variety of comments. Some parents were positive, and others more negative: "My daughter only has her class teacher for 2.5 days a week as it is without having it cut. She has a stand-in the rest of the week already and I do not want this increased."

The survey also found that many parents had to rely on their child for explanations. One commented: "Although a "permanent" supply teacher takes the class, my daughter says that they sometimes do a bit of work but mostly sit and chat."

Another expressed concern that the changes meant headteachers and deputes had to spend more time covering classes and less time on school management: "Parents/visitors are now finding it much more difficult to get appointments and, when they do, not for as long as they should be."

The survey found that "ignorance was the overriding theme" when parents were asked what changes were to be introduced in the coming year. Among secondary respondents, 69% did not know what changes there would be. The 31% who had been told reported that the likely consequences were changes to school hours, changes to the timetable such as a cut in the number of lessons per day from eight to six, anticipated problems with absence cover and providing supervision, distance learning packages to replace small Advanced Higher classes and an increase in the number of bi-level classes in S5 and S6.

Mrs Gillespie said it was ironic that the survey was carried out at the time of the passage through the Scottish Parliament of the Parental Involvement Bill, which was based on encouraging involvement in children's education.
"However, such parental involvement tends to be viewed as working only in one direction, with parents giving support to the school," she said. "There is little understanding that, for involvement to work properly, it has to be a two-way process - schools have to keep parents properly informed. Experience has taught us that there are "parent" issues - bullying, behaviour and enterprise education."

Mrs Gillespie suggested that the teachers' agreement was seen by the educational establishment as nothing to do with parents as it was "only" about teachers and their pay and conditions. "However, when such matters have a direct effect on who is in front of the class and for how long, then such matters become parent issues," she said.

To read the full article go to the Times Educational Supplement website: http://www.tes.co.uk/section/story/story.aspx?story_id=2263706