Education secretary Jenny Gilruth has been accused of “taking teachers for fools” over the Scottish government’s failure to deliver the 90-minute reduction in weekly class contact time promised by the SNP in 2021.
Liberal Democrat education spokesperson Willie Rennie made the comments - and described progress on the realisation of the pledge as “so slow” - after Jenny Gilruth said the timescale for delivery was “by the end of the current parliamentary term”.
The next Scottish Parliament elections are due in May 2026. Mr Rennie said that when the promise was made in 2021 teachers did not expect it to take “another five years” for implementation.
“Teachers are struggling now,” he said. “They need the promise delivered now.”
In response, Ms Gilruth said she agreed that reducing class contact time was “vitally important, particularly in terms of workload”.
To help bring about the pledge, she was waiting for the conclusion of “an external modelling and research exercise” she had commissioned.
Awaiting more information
She said it was looking at “current teacher numbers, pupil-teacher ratios and the projected decline in the number of school-aged children in Scotland”.
Ms Gilruth added: “We don’t yet have that detail. I don’t yet have that report that will inform the progress that needs to be made in relation to delivering this commitment.”
However, giving evidence to the Scottish Parliament’s Education, Children and Young People Committee on 17 January - when Ms Gilruth also faced questions over the delivery of the pledge, but this time from Labour education spokesperson Pam Duncan-Glancy - Ms Gilruth made it clear she expected to have that research “by the end of the month”.
Sam Anston, one of her officials, then confirmed: “Yes - we expect the report in January.”
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