This week marks the first annual general meeting of the EIS teaching union since the coronavirus pandemic began, with last year’s gathering cancelled as a result of Covid.

The event is not back to normal, however: there was no influx of teachers into Perth or Dundee, the two cities where the union holds its AGM in alternate years, with a three-day event that started yesterday instead being held online.

But it is crucial that this meeting of Scotland’s largest teaching union is back, even if it is in virtual form, because union conferences provide one of the best opportunities for the profession to make its voice heard.

In our publication, teachers’ views reign supreme but, in the wider world, the opinions of those at the chalkface scrabble for column inches with think tanks, politicians and researchers. These different groups are not always at odds with each other but, undoubtedly, those actually engaged in the business of educating young people deserve more prominence in the debate about what is - and what is not - working in our schools, as well as what policy priorities should be in the shorter and longer term.

Teachers’ voices must be heard

The trouble is, for all the talk of empowering teachers, even school leaders can be reluctant to express an opinion for fear of coming under fire from their local authority bosses. At union conferences, however, school staff can speak with impunity, and it’s important that they seize the opportunity.

Towards the end of his time as education secretary, John Swinney was wont to observe that if you asked 10 different people in education about an issue, you were likely to get 10 different answers. Now his replacement, Shirley-Anne Somerville, is parroting a similar line. Speaking in the Scottish Parliament at the beginning of June, she said she was “rapidly learning” in her new portfolio that it was not possible to come to decisions “that everyone will like”.

She was talking about how qualifications are going to be delivered in this exceptional year. But let’s hope this notion that there is no consensus in education does not take hold, because that suggests there’s no clear path to improving the quality of the experience our young people have in school. 

Yet, year in and year out, the same themes come up at teaching union conferences: the need for smaller class sizes, the need to reduce teacher-class contact time, the need to tackle poor behaviour and the need to provide more support for children with additional needs.

So there is a common set of priorities that the vast majority agree on. But, while teachers consistently raise these issues over years - even decades - they remain far from being resolved.

In Scotland, teachers still spend more time in front of classes than almost anywhere else in Europe and, while the SNP Scottish government’s ambition to reduce class sizes was relatively modest when it came to power in 2007 - the headline goal was classes of 18 or fewer in P1-3 - it has failed to deliver even on that. Indeed, SNP ministers have, in recent years, seemed studiously to avoid mentioning class sizes altogether.

The latest figures show the average class size for a P1-3 pupil in 2020 was 22.9 but also that only 14 per cent of P1-3 pupils were in classes of 18 pupils or fewer, and that a far larger proportion (24 per cent) were in class sizes of 26 to 30.

In a recent Tes Scotland interview, the EIS general secretary, Larry Flanagan, succinctly summed up what his priorities would be if he were ever to become education secretary. He said: “Employ more teachers, reduce class sizes and ensure there is adequate support for children with additional needs. In the afternoon, I would sort out the qualifications system.”

Ms Somerville was due to address the EIS AGM today. Let’s hope she has also taken the time to listen to the issues the teachers are debating and the motions they are supporting. Because every year, for decades now, the themes have remained largely unchanged.

The problem is the government’s failure to develop policies that truly address the issues raised and pave the way for genuine signs of progress.

Emma Seith is a reporter for Tes Scotland. She tweets @Emma_Seith