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Joanna Haynes came to Glasgow in the Autumn of 1975 and did a one year graduate course in primary teaching at Jordanhill College. She was active in the student teacher campaign last summer and has recently been elected Secretary of the Job Creation Branch of the Transport and General Workers Union. Scottish Socialist asked her about her experiences
Why did student teachers at Jordanhill occupy the college?
We occupied the college when it became apparent that so many of us were not going to get teaching posts. We hoped that the occupation of the Colleges of Education would enable us to build a much broader campaign against education cuts as a whole. The occupation was used as a centre for organising meetings in schools, factory gate meetings and protest actions such as the occupation of the Education Offices in Bath Street, the City Chambers and so on How many graduates from Jordanhill were unemployed at the end of the occupation?
At the end of June the number was somewhere around 400 from Jordanhill College. The vast majority of these were Primary teachers. Some have since found jobs outside teaching, some were given teaching posts over the summer. Since term started, the policy of the Education Authority seems to be one of ringing people up Thursday or Friday and telling them to Start in a school the on following Monday. If you're not in or don't happen to be on the phone, it's tough luck. About 120 teachers are now employed under the Job Creation Programme in Strathclyde. How come so many unemployed teachers in Glasgow are employed in the Job Creation Programme which was introduced particularly to help school leavers?
I think it's because the student teachers campaign had great support from the general public. In an "educationally deprived" area like Strathelyde in particular people feel very strongly that all these teachers are desperately needed in the schools. The goverment was forced by the
militancy of the national campaign and by public support to make some sort of concession to get student teachers off their backs.
Most of the schemes relate broadly speaking to Education. For example, English language for Immigrant adults, Road Safety and Health Education in schools. We feel that if these schemes are considered educationally worthwhile then they shouid be made a permanent feature of the education system. If they are not then why waste money which could be used to employ teachers in schools? Jordanhill College, who are our employers, are keen to Keep the schemes as job creation projects to hand out as a concession to student teachers should they become militant about unemployment next summer. Do teachers employed in the JCP have the same wages and conditions of employment as teachers in schools?
Not at all. When we started work the wages were £56 per week. Suddenly we were told that a mistake had been made and we were only to receive £50 per week. Secondly we have no security of employment. Our employers have the power to terminate a scheme at any time after three months, no matter how successful it is. Thirdly we are not classified as teachers but as general workers; the work we are doing does not count towards the two year probationary period required by the General Teaching Council Scotland. Lastly, because of the length of the schemes and because we are in temporary employment we will not be entitled to redundancy payment at the end of it. What have you done about this?
We have organised a branch of the Transport and General Workers Union. This enables us to have all the people
in the different schemes in one branch, we are entitled to a delegate to the Trades Council and to have official representation in the negotiation of our contract. Since the occupation we have asked consistently for membership of the teachers union, the EIS, but we have been equally consistently refused. We would be much stronger if we were organised with teachers in the EIS. Why were you unable to get the EIS involved?
From the beginning of our campaign we saw our fight as part of a broader one against government cuts in public spending. The EIS leadership COnstantly argued teachers as a "special case" and Scottish teachers as an even more "special case"* It also became clear to us that the contract of employment, which the EIS Executive argue must be defended at all costs, has loopholes in it which positively lay the basis for teacher unemployment. For maximum class size is 33, but there is example, the a flexibility clause which means that teachers can be asked to take up to 39 "where reasonable". Some would argue that in the present climate of education cuts a class of 39 is a good economy measure!
At a conference of unemployed teachers in Edinburgh, Mr. Forrester (EIS Executive) stated that if we were allowed to join ElS it would make the union undemocratic! The EIS and democracy is another story: at the EIS Annual General Meeting teacher unemployment could not be discussed because it was not on the agenda! However, we intend to continue to work alongside teachers in EIS against education cutS and for a contract that will guarantee a job for every teacher.