Scottish teachers using their own money for supplies
A poll has found that 7 in 10 Scottish teachers use their own money for classroom supplies.
The study by Scotland’s largest teaching union, the EIS, found that limited council funding has left teachers with no choice but to buy essential classroom resources with their own wallets.
More than half of the 16,475 teachers that took part in the poll also said that the cost of living crisis has forced them to cut back on this spending.
Clare Houston, probationary music teacher at Glenrothes High School said buying school supplies is “very normal for teachers”.
She said: “We don’t even get pencils so it’s pretty essential that we dip into our own pockets for the class, I’m sure most of my colleagues are the same.
“However, the biggest problem facing teachers in my opinion though is the lack of pupil support assistants and behaviour of some pupils.
“We have such limited time that it often seems like there’s no punishment or resolution for the extreme behaviour we have to put up with every day – that’s the biggest reason why I think we don’t get paid enough.”
The EIS poll also found that more than half of teachers believe more support staff would be the biggest relief to their “soaring levels of workload”.
Miss Houston said: “I definitely work over 50 hours a week but I’m not sure if that is the same for every department.
“It’s mostly marking that takes up the majority of the time, which obviously has to be done but we should get paid for the enormous amount of time we’re putting in.”
98% of teachers in the recent poll said they worked far beyond their contracted hours on average and less than a quarter were satisfied with their current workload.
EIS General Secretary, Andrea Bradley, has called on the Scottish Government to direct their efforts into finding a solution to teaching demands.
She said: “With the number of children living in poverty continuing to rise, it is once again falling on schools, with dwindling resources to plug the gaps in many young people’s lives. However, it is simply not sustainable for teachers to continue to subsidise the Scottish Education system.”
