EDUCATION MATTERS

The first great strike of Scottish teachers is over, and it is true to say that the relationship between the teaching profession and the Scottish education department has been radically altered. The time is now past when our only defence was an army of well-worn clichés, “We view with alarm,” “It is a matter of urgency,” etc. Our very weakness made us turn upon one another and expend temper and energy which have now been directed at the right quarter. The long-term advantages of our present militant action are invaluable, and may in the end prove of greater advantage than any immediate gains that we shall make. Never again will the firm purpose of teachers be regarded as their usual “Sound and fury, signifying nothing.”

The result of this has been a sense of relief, and a unity we have never known. The Glasgow teachers now look to the rest of Scotland to carry on the struggle which, fundamentally, is one for control of entry to our profession. If the struggle is prolonged, and area after area is called out by the national executive, it will sooner or later be Glasgow’s turn again. I am certain we shall be ready.

At a final rally in St Andrews Hall on Friday evening, the demonstrators, their fighting spirits still undiminished, heard rousing speeches denouncing the secretary of state for Scotland for bowing the knee to the Treasury and attempting to debase Scottish educational standards.

Writing in the SEJ (1961), Glasgow Local Association Secretary, Alex C. Stewart