 Teachers were promised more time to teach due to the McCrone deal |
Scotland's flagship education reforms have failed to live up to expectations, according to a random survey of more than 350 teachers by the NASUWT union. The poll found most staff were working beyond their contractual limits and had not seen a fall in paperwork, despite the McCrone deal on pay and conditions.
The NASUWT said the poll showed it was time for a review of the deal.
A Scottish Executive spokesperson said the agreement had transformed the recruitment and retention of teachers.
The McCrone agreement, reached in 2001, secured a 23% salary rise over three years for Scotland's 50,000 teachers.
The deal also capped teachers' working week at 35 hours and included the hiring of 3,000 more support staff to give them more time to teach.
However, of the 354 teachers surveyed in April, only 8.5% said their workload had reduced and just 5.3% worked 35 hours per week or less.
The survey also asked teachers about their priorities to improve working conditions.
The top responses were reducing bureaucracy and ensuring personal time for preparation and correction was guaranteed during contractual hours.
The priorities also included reducing the number of new executive initiatives and deploying additional teachers to decrease class sizes.
Chris Keates, the union's general secretary, said: "In 2001, teachers in the rest of the UK viewed the McCrone agreement in Scotland with envy.
"They aspired to the salaries which could be accrued through its chartered teachers status and coveted the link that pay progression had with professional development."
He said NASUWT had based its case for reducing the working hours of teachers in England and Wales on the 35-hour week of Scottish teachers.
"However, most Scottish teachers are now working well beyond their contractual limit, with 45-50 hours being the norm," he said.
"Paperwork and bureaucracy have spiralled out of control.
"McCrone is now due for review and, if the results of this survey are anything to go by, not before time."
'Legacy of neglect'
An executive spokesperson said: "It is easy to forget where we were in 2000/01.
"There was a legacy of neglect over more than a decade and appalling industrial relations because trust had broken down between unions and local authorities.
"Now in 2006 we have already made headway on the medium and long-term issues.
"However, we would acknowledge that cultural change takes time and there is still some work we need to do, but that is inevitable in anything as big and complex as the teachers' agreement."
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It is easy to forget where we were in 2000/01
