Latest news with #ScottishSecondaryTeachersAssociation
Scottish Sun
13-05-2025
- Politics
- Scottish Sun
Scots schools are breaking the law over single-sex toilets, teachers warn
SCHOOLS are breaking the law over single-sex toilets, teachers warn. They urged Nats ministers to ditch 'out of date' gender regulations. 1 MSP Tess White hit out at the SNP Government The Scottish Secondary Teachers Association said current rules are 'no longer compliant' with last month's Supreme Court judgment on the legal definition of a woman. The SNP Government has so far refused to adopt watchdogs' interim guidance that loos should not be open to those of the opposite sex who identify as trans. SSTA member Gordon West said schools still have to follow a 2021 rulebook that states a transgender kid 'should not be made to use a toilet or changing room of their sex assigned at birth'. He added: 'This guidance needs to be replaced urgently — yet we are being kept waiting.' Tory MSP Tess White hit out: 'John Swinney needs to stop pandering to gender extremists.' The Scottish Government said a working group is preparing for the Equality and Human Rights Commission's new code. They added: 'This will position us to take all necessary steps.' In December, John Swinney admitted girls are scared of using mixed-sex toilets in schools because they fear being photographed. He told MSPs he knew the 'intolerable' practice of boys taking snaps under stall doors was taking place. The First Minister said: 'Let me make it absolutely crystal clear that any of the behaviour Mr Findlay has recounted — which I know does take place in our schools — is completely and utterly intolerable.'
BBC News
29-04-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Scottish education is broken says teachers' union president
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 Scottish government has previously said it recognises the growth in ASN presents challenges and is investing additional money to support teachers. 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 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 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 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 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 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 tackle the problem, Education Secretary Jenny Gilruth has pledged an increase in teacher numbers, further investment to reduce the time teachers spend in class, an ongoing reform of the curriculum and a focus on tackling poor behaviour in there is legislation currently going through the Scottish parliament which looks to replace the SQA and inspectorate with new Scottish government has been contacted for comment.
