Pay offer to Scottish teachers

The McCrone committee looked at teachers' pay and conditions

Scottish education minister Jack McConnell has offered teachers a pay increase in excess of 20% over the next three years.

Mr McConnell, who met teachers' union leaders and local government officials on Friday, said he hoped the multi-million package would mean an end to the long-running pay debate.

The talks adjourned on Friday afternoon and, while all sides said they would negotiate over the weekend, it was thought a agreement was close to being reached.

Mr McConnell said the offer was in excess of the recommendations in the McCrone Committee's report into pay and conditions.

It's a lot of money, it's a very big investment but it's an investment in the schoolchildren of Scotland

Jack McConnell, Education Minister

Mr McConnell also sought to reassure the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (Cosla) that councils would not be left to foot the bill for the additional costs relating to the McCrone proposals.

Under the proposals, teachers' pay would rise by an average of 8% in the first year.

The Scottish Executive and teachers' unions have locked horns on numerous occasions in recent years on the issue of pay and conditions.

At one stage the profession hovered on the brink of strike action and a row erupted about about the full funding for McCrone.

Councils said there there was still a shortfall in the funding for elements of the teachers' deal, such as professional development training.

Jack McConnell: "It's a very good deal"

Mr McConnell said: "The deal is more than McCrone recommended. It's a very good deal.

"`We said if we could get the agreement on conditions and the modernisation of Scotland's classrooms that we wanted we could fund it and we're going to do that.

"It's a lot of money, its a very big investment but it's an investment in the schoolchildren of Scotland.

"Hopefully we'll be able to reassure (the local authorities) I don't think that is a real difficulty at all.

"We said we would fund the additional costs that would relate to the McCrone package - the modernisation of Scotland's teaching profession - and we will indeed make that funding available."

Nearly double

The McCrone committee, which was chaired by Gavin McCrone, a visiting professor at Edinburgh University's Management School, called for a package which in its third year would cost £260m.

However, Cosla said this figure would have to be around £500m.

A Scottish Executive spokesman said the deal it was offering would cost about £400m in the third year, nearly double McCrone's recommendations.

The committee's recommendations included substantial pay rises for teachers, the introduction of so-called super teachers and more classroom and administrative assistants to ease their workload.

Danny McCafferty: Seeking clarification

Danny McCafferty, Cosla education spokesman, insisted the pay and conditions elements of the deal could be separated.

"Anyone who has looked at our figures says that they stand up, and the Scottish Executive say they want to fund the whole package and we've been working constructively with them and the unions," he said.

"However, it has to be financed and when it comes down to finance we're back to where we started. We've got the money toward salaries but where's the money for other things?

"We don't think it's enough. We don't disagree in principle with McCrone and with what has been negotiated - we think that it's all very worthwhile and there's absolute agreement on that."

Mr McCafferty said Cosla calculated that the Scottish Executive needed to come up with another £120m over three years to fund the conditions element of the deal.