Unions seek Dumfries and Galloway school week consultation delay

Two teaching unions have called on a council to postpone its consultation on plans to change the school week.

The Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) and Scottish Secondary Teachers’ Association (SSTA) said there were “nuts and bolts issues” which needed to be sorted in Dumfries and Galloway.

It comes after Unison warned the plans to finish early on a Friday would be “yet another headache” for families.

The council said it was looking to “develop and enhance” provision in the region to ensure it better suited pupils and staff.

Dumfries and Galloway Council is looking at moving to a four-and-a-half day arrangement.

It is currently undertaking a “detailed consultation process” into the potential for the change.

However, that has now provoked criticism from teachers.

EIS local association secretary Andrew O’Halloran said the consultation was not being carried out in line with Local Negotiating Committees for Teachers (LNCT) guidelines.

“Education officials were unable to provide clarity about a whole range of contractual issues, which we would have expected the council to have thought about before launching the consultation,” he said.

He said there were also concerns about the lack of an equality impact assessment and the validity of a questionnaire with “some questions constructed to give a preconceived outcome”.

SSTA district secretary Jay Young said: “To make a change to the school week without understanding the full implications for all involved is not a sensible way forward for a council.

“To try and push this through without proper consideration could be deemed ‘foolhardy’ and a waste of valuable council time and money.

“Hopefully, the council will now review the process and engage with all parties to ensure it fully understands the implications of such a change.”

They have now asked the council to pause the consultation until the proposals are “fleshed out in full”.

The council said its consultation was open until 11 October and was gathering lots of feedback from a range of groups.

It said working with trade unions was a “key part” of that process and a working group had been set up to give them a “direct route” to have their say.

“We take their concerns seriously and any questions raised by the trade unions will be answered, and we will provide the information their members are seeking,” it added.

A meeting was scheduled for Thursday when the council said it hoped the “open forum” would be used to discuss issues further.

It said its aim was to gather all feedback before making any decision.