Renfrewshire teachers ballot on strike action

EIS ask members to consider walkout in bid to reduce working hours and class-contacttime

- EDEL KENEALY

A ballot asking Renfrewshire teachers to consider strike action has opened today.

The ballot, by trade union the Educational Institute Scotland, is asking teachers to consider industrial action as part of demands to reduce workload and class-contact time.

The union is calling on the Scottish Government to implement the SNP's election manifesto promise to cut class contact time by 90 minutes a week to give teachers more time for activities such as lesson preparation and marking.

The commitment, made five years ago, was to reduce time in the classroom to a maximum of 21 hours per week.

The EIS which represents the vast majority of teachers in Renfrewshire's 62 schools said there has been no progress to implement the plan or to recruit the 3,500 teachers needed to support it.