AS THE largest teaching union in Scotland, representing more than 80 per cent of teachers and lecturers across the country, the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) takes very seriously its obligations to stand up for Scottish education, its teaching professionals and its learners in our schools, colleges and universities.

Like much of the public sector, education in Scotland has found itself under constant threat in recent years, as a result of swingeing budget cuts across all sectors. Year upon year of continuing pressure on education budgets has left our education system struggling to cope with the weight of responsibility and expectation that is placed upon it.

There are too few teachers and support staff in our schools, attempting to support young people with an increasingly diverse range of needs. More than 40 per cent of all pupils in Scotland have an identified Additional Support Need, a massive increase from previous years and around double the figure compared to a decade ago.

The pandemic had a profound and long-lasting impact on young people, and education was promised additional resources to support education recovery in the wake of this.

That support has, largely, failed to materialise in our classrooms, leaving young people without the specialist support that they require and teaching and support staff struggling to adequately meet the needs of learners — those with and without additional needs.

In recent years, we have also seen significant increases in incidents of serious disruption in our schools, including a substantial increase in violent and aggressive behaviour aimed at teachers and other school staff.

This has been compounded by general understaffing and staff shortages, as well as thinly stretched specialist services such as educational psychology and speech and language therapy, resulting in many young people not receiving the specialist support that they need to help manage their behaviour. This leads to disaffection and frustration and, in a growing number of instances, to pupils lashing out by committing violent acts against school staff.

Workload pressures on teachers and other school staff are huge. The Scottish government seemed to recognise this more than four years ago, when it pledged to address teacher workload ahead of the 2021 Scottish Parliament election by reducing teachers’ class contact time by 1.5 hours per week.

But, here we are, into the fifth year since that pledge was made, another election approaching, teacher workload is off-the-chart, and they are still awaiting a concrete proposal on how this promise will be honoured and delivered.

The simple reality is that our education system needs more investment. It desperately needs more resources, particularly staff, to allow such a vital public service to deliver all that society expects from schools, colleges and universities.

Education is a bedrock of our society, the glue that holds it together, but it is currently toiling under the weight of ever-increasing demands and expectations while operating with dwindling resources. Against such a troubled backdrop, the EIS will again be calling on this year’s TUC Congress to support a motion on standing up for quality education.

Our education sector also needs to be an inclusive place, where people from all backgrounds are welcomed, valued and respected. Our education establishments have a vital role to play in countering extremist ideologies, such as those that foster division, racism, anti-immigration sentiment, misogyny, ableism, homophobia and transphobia.

The worrying growth in extremist far-right narratives in the media and in public discourse has led to alarming scapegoating of migrants, asylum-seekers and other marginalised communities across the whole of Britain.

In Scotland, a part of Britain which has often avoided the worst excesses of far-right activity, there are worrying signs that the far-right and racist propaganda aimed at minority groups is starting to take hold in some sections of society.

While untouched by the 2024 right-wing riots that impacted many parts of Britain, Scotland has, in recent weeks, witnessed the scourge of anti-migrant protests outside hotels housing people awaiting decisions on their asylum applications. This is a deeply disturbing development, which underscores how pervasive the extreme right-wing rhetoric has become.

People are not born prejudiced; it is a learned behaviour which takes many years to develop. Our schools, colleges and universities are diverse places, with learners and staff from all backgrounds mixing together and working together.

As such, schools, colleges, and universities must be places where rights, democracy and equality are taught, practised, and safeguarded. Educators must be supported to counter hate, promote critical thinking, and create safe learning environments for all students, in the interests of social cohesion and democracy.

The trade union movement has a long and proud history of standing up for minority groups and for standing firm against racist ideology. Many counter-protests standing against the far-right are made up of trade union members, members of local trades councils, and other community organisations.

In the second motion it is bringing to congress this year, the EIS will ask all TUC-affiliated unions to step up the fight against extremist far-right rhetoric and activity across society.

This must include the continuing co-ordination of the trade union movement against these damaging ideologies, and lobbying the government to embed anti-racist education, political education and education for peace throughout our education system.

High-quality education for all has seldom been more important. Bigotry and racism feed on ignorance and fear of the unknown — we must educate our young people to ensure that our society does not go down what history teaches us is a profoundly dangerous path.

Andrea Bradley is general secretary of the Educational Institute of Scotland.