Scottish education is broken says teachers' leader

The head of Scotland's second largest teaching union has told the BBC that "education is broken".

Stuart Hunter, president of the Scottish Secondary Teachers Association (SSTA), said the schools system "has passed the tipping point leading to crisis".

Among the issues he highlighted was schools being overwhelmed by an "explosion" in children with additional support needs (ASN), including dyslexia and ADHD.

The Scottish government said education was performing well, with record levels of literacy and numeracy, and that it had provided funding for teacher numbers and ASN support in this year's budget.

Ahead of the union's annual conference next week, Mr Hunter told the BBC that Scottish education was only surviving because of the goodwill of teachers working beyond their hours for the sake of the students.

He said growing levels of bureaucracy and "random edicts" by the exam body, the SQA, and others were adding to the unmanageable workload and stress suffered by teachers.

Mr Hunter said teachers were forced to spend so much time on paperwork and demands from organisations like the inspectorate that they did not get enough time to prepare classes and teach them.

In his speech next week, Mr Hunter will say the issues affecting teachers are multiple but the crisis in ASN (Additional Support Needs ) provision is a "disaster unfolding in front of us all right now".

"There has been an explosion in the number of young people identified with ASN," he said.

"Yet instead of increased support, we are seeing ASN specialists being cut to save money.

"ASN staff are overwhelmed, and the system is breaking."

Since 2004, when a new law marked a shift towards keeping children in mainstream schools, there has been an eight-fold increase in recorded ASL (additional support for learning) pupil numbers, with 285,000 children now receiving some form of support.

A recent report by Audit Scotland found around 40% of Scottish pupils are now receiving ASL, most of it delivered within mainstream schools.

It found ministers and councils have failed to plan effectively for the rising numbers.

In his speech next Friday, Mr Hunter will also talk about the "anger and frustration" teachers have when dealing with the different organisations running the education system.

He will say: "Despite what appears to be sincere attempts to improve the lot of teachers and learners alike, progress has been glacial.

"The brutal reality is that education is broken," he will say.

"It only survives due to those working in schools going way beyond their contractual working hours for the sake of the students.

"The cost to mental and physical health is enormous."

Mr Hunter speech comes after teachers and unions previously warned that staff are leaving the profession because the workload and stress is so overwhelming.

In recent years, Scottish government ministers have commissioned a number of reviews of the education system after international testing suggested a long-term decline in attainment.

In addition to that, the gap between the results achieved by Scotland's richest and poorest school pupils is as wide as it was a decade ago when the government named it as a priority.

To tackle the problems, Education Secretary Jenny Gilruth has pledged an increase in teacher numbers, further investment to reduce the time teachers spend in class, ongoing reform of the curriculum and a focus on tackling poor behaviour.

A Scottish government spokesperson said: "Education in Scotland continues to perform well with record levels of literacy and numeracy in schools, a record low attainment gap for literacy in primary schools and a record number of young people entering work, training or further study."

The spokesperson said pupil teacher ratio in Scotland was the lowest in the UK and that ongoing reform included replacing the SQA with a new body, Qualifications Scotland.

They added that local authorities were receiving £186.5m this year as part of an agreement to restore teacher numbers to 2023 levels, and that an extra £29m had been provided to support the ASN workforce.