Prelim exams have had to be rescheduled for some secondary school pupils as teachers went on strike for the second day across Scotland, before a further wave of disruption planned over 16 consecutive days from next Monday.
Scottish primary schools were closed all day on Tuesday, with secondary schools shutting on Wednesday, after members of the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS), NASUWT and the Scottish Secondary Teachers’ Association (SSTA) rejected a 5% pay increase, including rises of up to 6.85% for the lowest-paid, arguing for 10%.
The Holyrood education secretary, Shirley-Anne Somerville, told MSPs on Tuesday that she would leave “no stone unturned” to bring about a quick resolution to the pay dispute, but described the unions’ pay demands as “simply unaffordable”.
Seamus Searson, the general secretary of the SSTA, told the Guardian he had visited a picket line in Edinburgh on Wednesday morning: “Teachers are very angry about what is going on. They don’t want to be on strike, but this is not just about pay for this year but to keep people in the profession and bring new teachers in. I’ve been talking to teachers with 15 to 20 years service who can’t make ends meet and are talking about leaving the profession.”
