School Leaders Scotland (SLS) is the latest organisation to publish a manifesto for the parliamentary election on 7 May.
, which represents the secondary sector, launched its at the Scottish Parliament tonight. It focuses on key areas including workforce, funding and curriculum and assessment.
Here are some of the main demands that the SLS manifesto makes of political parties seeking election in May:
1. Workforce
- Retain staff through a mix of “reduced class-contact time, manageable workload, fair and proportionate and explicit steps to reduce the combined impact of local and national bureaucracy”.
- Give headteachers the power and autonomy to “appoint the qualified professionals that most meet the needs of their unique contexts”.
- Provide statutory wellbeing support for all school leaders and “recognise the emotional toil of the significant responsibilities placed upon [them]”.
- Strengthen teacher and leadership recruitment and retention in rural and island areas, with support for placements, housing, travel and university partnerships.
2. Scottish education’s ‘funding crisis’
- Provide significant and sustainable investment in additional support for learning, including specialist teachers, support staff and protected time that addresses “the complexity and scale of additional support needs” (ASN).
- Boost ASN support and the wider support system: funding and a bigger role for multi-agency services are deemed crucial, as is “redressing any assumption that schools alone will meet escalating needs”.
- Guarantee fair funding throughout Scotland - “equal opportunity requires equitable (not uniform) resourcing” - and the right levels of investment for rural, island and Gaelic-medium education.
3. Curriculum, assessment and qualifications
- Bring together all aspects of curriculum, assessment and qualifications in a “coherent national approach, addressing ambiguity, fragmentation and conflicting agendas across the various educational bodies informing our system”.
- Leave behind “exam-dominated attainment data and compliance-driven inspection judgements” in a move towards “broader, more meaningful measures of school success that value context, inclusion, creativity, innovation and diverse learner achievement”.
- Invest in a modern, connected education system that supports confident and ethical use of digital and AI technologies.
4. Trust, autonomy and professional respect
- Trust school leaders to make decisions suitable for their context, in a way that “genuinely empowers the profession and values educators’ lived experience and professional expertise”.
- “Reset the public narrative” around schools and education by “celebrating the professionalism, creativity and impact of educators”, highlighting success by working with professional bodies and the media.
SLS representatives and the University of Nottingham’s Professor Toby Greany have been discussing the final report of the three-year study, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and also published today.
It explores the preparation, recruitment and retention of senior school leaders in Scotland, England and Northern Ireland.
Professor Greany said: “Scottish heads painted a more challenging picture than their counterparts elsewhere in the UK. Nearly a third described themselves as sinking, while 35 per cent said they were thriving.
“Staffing issues topped the list of drains, followed by poor work-life balance and the challenges of special needs and inclusion. Behaviour challenges ranked higher in Scotland than elsewhere.”
He added: “The Scottish education system is proud of its coherence and commitment to equity, but this research highlights challenges for leadership sustainability. It also highlights risks around the appetite of future generations to step up into roles that look increasingly challenging.”
In January the EIS, Scotland’s largest teaching union, published its manifesto for the upcoming Scottish Parliament elections. Its priorities included class sizes, contact time, early years staffing, ASN and free school meals.
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