Mairi McAllan admits still no cost for key pledge to reduce teachers' class contact time

Ms McAllan told a Holyrood committee work is still underway to determine the cost of the government’s pledge to reduce weekly teacher class contact time, which was made to avert strike action in schools.

However, she said a COSLA estimate of £300 million for the reduction in class contact time (RCCT) is “not affordable”.

As part of efforts to avoid strike action, the Scottish Government agreed a landmark agreement in March 2026 to reduce maximum weekly teacher class contact time from 22.5 hours to 21 hours.

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Duncan Dunlop, the Liberal Democrat MSP, said asked the cabinet secretary about a £300m estimate from local authority umbrella body COSLA for the cost of the RCCT.

Ms McAllan said: “In the evidence session they did refer to the sum that you've just put to me there.

“But as far as I'm concerned, that's not accurate and it's not affordable, frankly.

“So my estimations of the cost of RCCT, which we are currently requiring those local plans to absolutely finalise, is not in the region of that figure, and that would not be affordable.”

Pressed on the rough costing for the proposal, the minister said she is “still doing the work to understand the conditions in each locality”, adding that “we might need to recruit more teachers”.

The figure from COSLA is for the scheme as a whole, rather than the phased implementation planned by the government.

Plans currently involve reducing class contact time in primary schools by August next year, with secondaries to follow two years later.

Last month ADES (the Association of Directors of Education in Scotland) answered questions from MSPs.

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In its written submission, ADES also raised concerns about teacher availability, citing particular shortages in mathematics, home economics, and craft, design & technology.

In response to questions from Labour MSP Katherine Sangster, Ms McAllan said she is unsure how many additional teachers will be needed.

However, the committee was told that as the pledge will be in teachers’ terms and conditions, the cabinet secretary will assure primary teachers the move will go ahead.

The first modelling, the committee was also told, is expected to be ready in the autumn with clearer details on the proposals.

Councillor Kelly Parry, COSLA’s resources spokeperson, said the body had agreed to the commitment to RCCT subject to it being fully funded by Scottish Government.

“We are committed to developing a shared understanding of the cost and £300m was the original estimate for full implementation of all stages at a particular point in time,” she said.

"As we have agreed to a phased implementation, the cost will be lower than this.

“The Cabinet Secretary noted that work is ongoing between COSLA and Scottish Government and therefore rightly declined to provide any figures on cost which might prove ultimately to be misleading, however it will still require a very substantial investment in the teaching workforce.”

However, COSLA said work will have to be done to determine how the RCCT will be affordable.

“This cost is not included in the well documented £4.7 billion budget gap facing the Scottish Government already and therefore the Scottish Government will be faced with questions of affordability across all budget lines.”