Confirming the implementation of the NHS pay deal in May that gave an average increase of 4 per cent to staff - including nurses and paramedics - first minister Nicola Sturgeon said it had been “an exceptionally challenging year for our health service” and that she was delighted to able “to recognise the service and dedication” of healthcare staff.

But what about teachers?

At the time of writing, teachers are being offered a rise of 1.22 per cent. Almost a year after negotiations got underway in December 2020, with a claim of between 3 and 5 per cent, the only concession from councils and the government in recent weeks has been the offer of what the EIS teaching union described as a “meagre additional one-off payment”.

According to the EIS, this amounted to around £90 net for a teacher at the top of the main-grade scale.

The talks about this year’s pay deal are in danger of slipping into next year. But the longer the negotiations continue, the stronger the unions’ argument for more money becomes, at a time when the cost of living is rising sharply. Whether it’s food staples or gas and electricity, we are all increasingly being hit in the pocket.

Figures published earlier this month by the Office for National Statistics show that inflation hit 4.2 per cent in October, the highest rate since November 2011 (when it was 4.8 per cent).

Now the teaching unions are starting to show their teeth. On 30 September, they declared a formal dispute with the government and councils over pay, and earlier this month - following the latest pay offer, which included that “meagre” one-off payment - they said there was now a “growing clamour” for industrial action.

It’s a dance we are all familiar with. The last time teachers struck a pay deal was in April 2019. That deal resulted in the teaching unions securing a 13.51 per cent increase over three years, with a backdated 3 per cent pay increase from April 2018, a 7 per cent rise in April 2019 and a final 3 per cent pay increase from April 2020.

That deal was reached after 12 months of negotiations and threats of strike action, which reached a crescendo when an estimated 30,000 teachers marched through Glasgow in October 2018.

But what if we just skipped all the sabre-rattling and cut straight to a reasonable pay offer? Think of the energy this would save: the hours of meetings, the painful inching forward. Could this time not be better spent?

And it’s not just about the hours invested in the negotiations - it’s also about the tone that they set for the relationship between teachers and local authorities: the impression that teachers and councils are on opposing teams, that you get one over on them before they get one over on you.

If ever there was a time for teachers and their bosses to be united, it is now, given the huge challenges that schools are facing.

Schools are continuing to grapple with high levels of pupil and staff absence as a result of the pandemic at the same time as being faced daily with the impact of Covid on their pupils.

Already we know that around a third of pupils have at least one additional support need and that, all too often even before Covid, these children have been let down, mainly because of a lack of staff and a lack of training. Now teachers are reporting that many pupils who previously were just about coping aren’t any longer.

In a submission to last week’s meeting of the Scottish Parliament’s Education, Children and Young People Committee, the EIS union said: “The societal and family contexts coupled with disruption to learning have meant that an increased number of children and young people now require additional support.”

Teachers are also reporting that children in early primary are proving less able to cope with school because the input they would usually have received in nursery has been interrupted. The same EIS submission said that more children were arriving at school with “delayed development” - for example, still wearing nappies or with minimal speech and language acquisition.

It also said there had been “an increase in violent incidents arising from pupils’ distressed behaviour, most notably among P1 and P2 children”.

So, why is it that the government wants to thank and reward NHS workers, but not teachers?

Teachers stepped up when schools closed and the pressure has never dissipated. Now they are plugging gaps in learning and trying to support pupil wellbeing, at the same time as keeping schools open as Covid cases rise.

There are no easy answers to many of the challenges that schools face, but there is an easy answer when it comes to pay.

The government needs to stump up the cash so councils can make teachers a fair offer, because wrangling over pay saps everyone’s energy and morale. And just now, these are precious commodities - teachers need every ounce.

Emma Seith is a reporter for Tes Scotland

This article originally appeared in the 26 November 2021 issue under the headline “Give teachers fair pay - no one wants a morale-sapping dispute right now”