Self-styled education expert, the Rev Ewan Aitken should really know better than to get involved in a tussle between trade unions, but then this is the man who wants children forcibly removed from their parents and put into special homes for “bullies”.
There can be absolutely no doubt that all teaching trade unions have been party to the teachers’ agreement from the start and will continue to monitor bodies like the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities whenever they seek to cherry-pick parts of the agreement they deem to be acceptable, or seek to divide and rule the workers. It is a package and it is up to all parties to commit to making it work.
Moreover, I defy the worthy reverend to quote one single verse from the national agreement which states that the remit of the specialist principal teacher would be amended to encompass supervision of subjects in which the principal teacher has no background or specialist interest.
Rather than seek to divide and rule trade unionist comrades, the preacher should stick to the pulpit and allow the workers to sort out our own issues among ourselves.
James Forbes
Corstorphine High Street
Edinburgh