Teachers in Scotland could work flexible four-day week in class under new plans

Teachers could work a "flexible" four-day teaching week under new proposals announced by the Scottish government.

Plans also include reduced classroom contact time with pupils and agreed national minimum standards for pupil learning hours.

It would leave a fifth day for "professional learning" activities outside of the classroom, including lesson preparation, marking and training.

Scotland's education secretary Jenny Gilruth said it demonstrated a "clear commitment" to teachers. But the EIS union said was "not aware" of how a four-day week would work.

The EIS and NASUWT unions are currently balloting members on strike action over a failure to reduce class contact time - periods when teachers are directly teaching pupils.

At the last Holyrood election, the SNP promised to cut contact time by 90 minutes a week to allow more time for other activities.

The new proposals could enable later start times, extended breaks, or restructured school days.

The teaching unions emphasised that any allocated time outside of the classroom should be used as teachers see fit.

The education secretary said the plans, along with a new pay deal, would form a new "National Deal" for teachers.

Jenny Gilruth acknowledged that unions had "strong" opinions on these plans and said she would meet with the EIS later.

She told BBC Scotland: "The move to a four-day teaching week would really help to lighten the load in terms of workload, but also to create headspace for the teaching profession.

"We've come forward with some pragmatic solutions and we very much look forward to engaging with local government and also with the teaching trade unions on securing an agreement to ensure we can improve conditions for teachers."

A survey by the EIS in June found that the workload in schools was "unfair, unhealthy and unsustainable".

Teachers said they were rarely or never able to do the work, preparation and correcting they had been asked to do within their working week.

EIS general secretary Andrea Bradley said the promised 90-minute reduction in class contact time was a "red line for teachers".

"There can be no government or employer diktat over how this time should be utilised by teachers," she added.

Ms Bradley told BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland programme that the union was not yet aware of how a flexible four-day week would be implemented.

She said the Scottish government's proposals did "not amount to a plan that can be properly scrutinised" and said it would not affect the EIS strike ballot.

NASUWT said it was pleased with the proposals but it needed "assurance that teachers will have the responsibility for deciding how such time should be used".

A spokesperson added: "Our members are frustrated at the ongoing delays in the delivery of a clear Scottish government promise to them, which is why we have opened a ballot on industrial action on this matter."

This is not a proposal to put teachers onto a four-day working week. The discussion is about exactly how a teacher's five day week might be structured.

Any changes would come after negotiations involving the unions and councils.

But there are clearly important practical issues which need to be looked at, not least in primary schools.

Having a different teacher one day a week is different to having a different teacher for an hour, perhaps for PE or another specific subject.

But there is real frustration among some teachers over their workloads.

The unions want reduced contact time to help cut the amount of work teachers say they have to do in their own time in the evenings and at weekends.

Strike ballots over this issue continue.

Even if the proposals do not become the definitive long-term solution, will they be enough to avert the risk of a strike in the months before the Scottish election?