The Scottish Government must avoid emulating the worst excesses of the Westminster Government’s education policies or risk a crisis in teaching, the General Secretary of the NASUWT, the fastest growing teachers’ union in Scotland and the largest in the UK, has warned at the Union’s Scotland Annual Conference.

Chris Keates told the Conference,which is continues today (Saturday) at the NASUWT Scotland National Centre in Edinburgh, that there are worrying signs that Scotland is considering adopting some of the policies which have caused a major teacher recruitment and retention crisis in England and Wales and which have resulted in plummeting teacher morale and rising stress levels among teachers.

She pointed to the SNP election manifesto pledge to extend responsibilities which currently sit solely with local authorities to schools and to allocate more resources directly to headteachers.

She said: This is exactly the starting point which has led to the current unacceptable situation faced by teachers in England.

“As a result of the freedoms and flexibilities the Westminster Government has put into the hands of schools, discrimination is rife, and the pay system is now like the Wild West, rife with lawlessness, gambling with teachers’ careers and riddled with uncertainty.”

She also highlighted the pledge for more frequent and focused school inspections and warned against adopting the punitive, hit and run systems that operate in England and Wales.

She went on to say: “The Government here has the power to do things differently. 

“But so far, on the things that matter to you; it has failed to do so. 

“Your pay has declined, your workload increased, your pensions have been plundered. There is no longer the gold standard of terms and conditions to which teachers in other nations and administrations aspired.

“As devolution is maximised displacing blame to Westminster is unacceptable. Westminster has a lot to answer for, but education and your terms and conditions, are solely matters for the Government here in Scotland.

“Ministers must capitalise on the advantages they have of an independent education service and if they pursue the flawed policies from England, they will be doing an immense disservice to education here.”

Ms Keates called on ministers to work with the profession in order to ensure that all children and young people can benefit from a world class education service and a profession which is recognised, rewarded and valued to ensure the recruitment and retention of great teachers.

“The opportunity to eschew the poor practice being promoted elsewhere and do something different must be grasped” she concluded.