At last Friday’s meeting of the Scottish Teachers’ Salaries Committee negotiating sub-committee, the teachers’ side put forward a claim reduced from 20 per cent to 12.5 per cent, and the management side raised their offer from 7 to 7.5 per cent.
* The GTC have some 58,000 letters ready for issue to teachers but cannot post them until the postal strike is over. The council are required to notify registered teachers by February 28 each year of the arrangements for re-registration. Mr George Gray, registrar, said the delay was particularly unfortunate in view of the new system planned for collection of the pound;1 annual registration fee.
* Contacts between home and school should be informal, but have very specific aims: this was the main conclusion drawn at a two-day conference for Glasgow secondary headteachers held last week in Dundas Vale Teachers’ Centre.
* Closed circuit television might be a threat to the use of textbooks, but never to the importance of teachers, said Mr James Carmichael, rector of Queen Anne High School, Dunfermline, addressing members of the youth libraries group of the Library Association.
* There is no case for a compulsory year away from studies between school and university, says the report of a committee set up by Edinburgh University Senate.
* The difficulties encountered in trying to achieve a “social mix” in comprehensive schools were illustrated in the Craigmillar district of Edinburgh, said Gavin Strang, Labour MP for East Edinburgh, speaking last week to the local branch of the Association for the Advancement of State Education. He advocated positive discrimination in favour of large working-class housing schemes. The environment should be be compensated for by providing more playgroups, more nurseries, and a higher teacher-pupil ratio.
TES SCOTLAND, March 5, 1971
