Dear Student,
Forth Valley College has been in a local dispute for more than a year over the replacement of lecturers with a new role of instructor assessor. This new role requires no teaching qualifications and the terms and conditions attached to this role means a significant increase in class contact time, which in turn means a reduction on time for planning, preparation, marking and student support. We strongly believe this will have a detrimental impact on the student learning experience.
At a national level EIS/FELA are concerned that this process of undermining vocational learning is being rolled out across the Further Education Sector in Scotland. Alongside the Forth Valley Local dispute EIS-FELA (Further Education Lecturers Association) embarked on National strike action on Thursday 25th March, seeking to ensure that an agreement already made through negotiating with our employers is ratified and honoured.
On Friday 12th March, agreement was reached at the National Joint Negotiating Committee (NJNC) between representatives from Colleges Scotland and also from EIS-FELA, following a long period of negotiation, where EIS-FELA engaged in significant effort to reach a negotiated settlement to this dispute. We have been consistent in our wish to avoid strike action, as we know how hard this year has been for all students.
This dispute was raised over the course of last year following a period of years where instructor / assessor type roles, which had existed in colleges previously in a support sense, had evolved to effectively replace lecturer roles in Colleges. This has been carried out in different colleges, at different times and by different methods – including a situation here in Forth Valley College where a group of lecturers were offered redundancy or a move to instructor/assessor type positions that pay less and have worse conditions of service.
EIS-FELA have been absolutely clear that this practice within the sector is not acceptable, for either lecturing staff, or for students themselves. All students, regardless of subjects undertaken, deserve the same engagement with a qualified professional lecturer and the same opportunities. Anything less is simply unfair.
Both sides then took the agreement be formally ratified by their organisations. Although EIS-FELA executive committee ratified the agreement, Colleges Scotland did not and asked their negotiators to meet with EIS-FELA again.
At this meeting, held on 23rd March, despite four hours of attempts, Colleges Scotland negotiators refused to answer questions of clarity and did not offer any justification as to why the employers’ association could not ratify the agreement already made. Without this clarification or justification, EIS-FELA has been left, regrettably, with little option but to engage in avoidable strike action.
The agreement reached on 12th March, in our view, strengthened FE for the better. EIS-FELA have been absolutely clear the practice of replacing lecturers with other roles within the sector is not acceptable, for either lecturing staff, or for students. Students deserve equality of opportunity and fair treatment. Put simply, every student deserves to be taught by a professional lecturer.
It is wholly regrettable that colleges have refused to ratify an agreement, agreed by their negotiators, that benefits both students and lecturers. We ask for your support and solidarity in this campaign to defend professionalism in FE.
EIS/FELA
