Education experts warn 'value' of reducing class contact time 'impossible to know'
Reduction in class contact time was agreed in order to see off strikes but school leaders have concerns about the policy
Education directors have said it is impossible to know what the “value would be” of plans to reduce teachers’ class contact time.
General secretary of ADES, Sheena Devlin, raised concerns that Scotland’s youngest pupils will lack continuity in the classroom.
Giving evidence to Holyrood’s education committee, Ms Devlin said it is impossible to outline how the policy will be implemented or how its merits will be judged.
Previous education secretary Jenny Gilruth struck a deal with teaching unions to implement a reduction in class contact time (RCCT).
As part of efforts to avoid strike action, Ms Gilruth agreed a landmark agreement in March 2026 to reduce maximum weekly teacher class contact time from 22.5 hours to 21 hours.
ADES (the Association of Directors of Education in Scotland) answered questions from MSPs on the policy alongside Stuart Bain, a Chief Officer from local authority umbrella body COSLA.
Ms Devlin outlined her concerns that there are no clear metrics to monitor success of the proposals.
Ensuring continuity for pupils and the delivering the curriculum will be “not an insignificant task” for schools, she added.
She said: ““This is such an unknown at this stage that I can’t say whether we can right now quantify what the value would be of this.”
The outlook across Scotland will vary between local authorities, Ms Devlin also told the committee.
Mr Bain told the committee that teachers would use the reduced contact time as “professional time” and that there will be no strict definition of what this involves.
Plans currently involved reducing class contact time in primary schools by August next year with secondaries to follow two years later.
Ms Devlin said: “We know that to provide non-class contact for teachers across Scotland in different contexts will require to have different approaches to that.
“So there needs to be flexibility built in to how that is done.
“We are going to see in primary schools the number of adults - the number of teachers who interact with children and young people on any given week - increase under this model.
“And so for our very youngest children that is a concern that there is not that same adult with them for the entirety of their class contact time.”
She said careful planning was vital to minimise the impact of this.
Ms Devlin also warned against any system that forces primary teachers, who are generalists, to limit their curriculum experience.
“It is not an inconsiderable task,” she added.
Katherine Sangster, of Scottish Labour, asked specifically what a child’s week would look like under reduced class contact time.
Ms Devlin replied that that would be “an impossible task”.
In their written submission, ADES also raised concerns about teacher availability, citing particular shortages in Mathematics, Home Economics, and Craft, Design & Technology “where demand continues to exceed the supply of qualified teachers”.
Additional staffing may be needed to implement RCCT, making the shortages in this subjects more pronounced.
The submission also stresses the need for investment as well as monitoring.
“Given the significant, additional national investment in realising this policy ambition,” it adds, “There are currently no clear metrics of impact/success that will be able to be monitored, evaluated and reported.
“An investment on this scale merits such an approach and this may be something that the committee is already given some though to how, and by who, this will be undertaken.”
Comments
Want to join the conversation? Please or to comment on this article.