Minute of Meeting of Joint Negotiating Committee for Teaching Staff of 19 November 2026 for Noting
Perth and Kinross Council · 27 May 2026
Back to Learning and Families Committee — 27 May 2026 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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Joint Negotiating Committee for Teaching Staff Minute of hybrid meeting of the Joint Negotiating Committee for Teaching Staff (JNCT) held in Meeting Room 410, 2 High Street, Perth on Wednesday 19 November 2025 at 2.30pm. Present: Representing Perth and Kinross Council Councillors J Rebbeck and Councillor C Shiers; M Shaw, E Moran, F Mackay, D Macluskey, P Smith and N Craik-Collins (all Education and Learning); P Johnstone (Strategic Planning, People and Performance). Representing Teachers’ Associations J Craigon, L Gibb, L J Grant, M Laurie, J Cook, M Taylor and C Weston (all EIS); M Mackie (SSTA); S Topen-Cooper (NASUWT) In Attendance: A McConnachie for Joint Secretary (Management Side). Apologies: Councillor S Carr and J Leslie Councillor J Rebbeck, Convener, Presiding. 1. Welcome and Apologies Councillor J Rebbeck welcomed those present to the meeting and apologies for absence were noted as above. 2. Declarations of Interest (Elected Members Only) There were no Declarations of Interest made in terms of the Councillors’ Code of Conduct. 3. Minute of Meeting of the Joint Negotiating Committee for Teaching Staff of 3 September 2025 for Approval The Minute of meeting of the Joint Negotiating Committee for Teaching Staff of 3 September 2025 was submitted and approved as a correct record. 4. Matters Arising (i) Membership Updates The following Membership Update was agreed: Neil Craik-Collins to replace Nick Thomson on the Management Side. 5. Business of Learning and Families Committee of 12 November 2025 for Noting The business of Learning and Families Committee of 12 November 2025, be noted.
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6. Emergency Closure of Schools – Severe Weather Guidance D Macluskey advised this is the annual update of this guidance with the main difference being that in the event of a school closure rather than staff attending an alternative place of work, schools will move to the delivery of remote learning. C Weston said there is no provision within the SNCT that says teachers have to deliver remote learning, but they could do other work from home. Discussion followed and with neither side’s position changing The Convener said he accepted there was not going to be agreement today and that further conversation was needed out with the meeting. In response to C Weston asking that the link to the guidance be removed in the meantime, D Macluskey said he would seek guidance on that. In response to J Cook asking if during a Severe Weather Warning where police advice is to only travel if essential would teachers travelling to work be considered “essential travel” and how would travelling in such circumstances affect their insurance coverage, D Macluskey said decisions on whether to travel would be for staff to decide individually and it would be for individuals and their insurers to discuss coverage. Resolved: The Committee noted the update with further discussion to take place on remote learning. 7. Cost of the School Day Policy D Macluskey advised the policy is in draft form at the moment and welcomed any questions or comments. In response to C Weston saying the document says “by June 2025 Perth and Kinross Schools and ELC settings will have a Cost of the School Day Plan…”, D Mcluskey said that deadline has slipped, and it has not been adopted as policy yet with it still to go before the Learning and Families Committee. The date will be changed to June 2026. In response to C Weston asking if every school has a policy on uniform, D Mcluskey said the Scottish Government guidance is they should and if they do it should be consultative. M Shaw said when Perth High School were coming up with theirs, they did a lot of work consultatively around it. In response to C Weston asking in terms of best practice is there a maximum number of non-uniform days a school can have, D Mcluskey said there is not, it is left to headteachers to decide and he thinks they would know how many is too many. Resolved: The Committee noted the policy.
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8. Employee Survey D Mcluskey gave a verbal update. At the time of the meeting Education had a 27.8% completion rate for the Employee Survey and with Education making up about 3000 of the 5000 Council’s employees he was disappointed with the low number. He said he asked for time to be given at inset days for the survey to be completed and he needs to know where that did not happen as they are looking to work with schools that did not set aside time. He stressed the importance of the survey to him and as a tool for improvement with any help getting more people to complete it appreciated. Resolved: The Committee noted the update. 9. Restructure of the Outreach Service (Including EAL) – Locality Model F Mackay gave a verbal update. The restructuring is part of the ASN programme, and it is moving from centralised inclusion resources to 4 locality areas with LMGs grouped together. It does not change anyone’s job or the function anyone does just the coordination of who they report to. There is a working group looking at the implementation and they had their 1st meeting last week with a whole day workshop in December. The resources and decision making around them will be closer to HTs with the focus on localisation of resources as much as possible. Will bring updates as and when they have them. In response to C Weston asking when this will be in place, F Mackay said hopefully in August 2026 following recommendations in March 2026, but some might happen quicker. In response to M Mackie asking if EALs are part of the working group, F Mackay said they will have representation and be part of the stakeholder discussion but can look at specific representation for them. There is a meeting with the Peripatetic Teams on 18 December which is the first opportunity to bring people together and have further discussion. In response to S Topen-Cooper saying the current centralised service is very successful and his concern that splitting it would mean a loss of continuity, training and support, F Mackay agreed the current service is very successful and there is no intention of dismantling that as the 4 localities will still be part of one team. In response to C Weston asking if the Locality Coordinator post would be a teaching role and J Craigon asking if there would be any cost savings, F Mackay said it would be PT teaching terms and conditions and there would be no cost savings.
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In response to S Topen-Cooper asking if the change will mean more meetings, more bureaucracy and a watered-down service, F Mackay said that is not the intention, she understands the concerns and would encourage participation in the upcoming focus groups. Resolved: The Committee noted the update. 10. Transformational Change – Update on ISPs including long term plans for places like Connections and Navigate F MacKay gave a verbal update. In the past year they have increased their number of ISPs with the aim that every secondary school with a substantive role has ISP and that each LMG catchment has at least one school with ISP. So far, they have completed statutory consultations for three schools – Perth High School, Kinross High School and Viewlands Primary School – with agreement at the Learning and Families Committee on 12 November that these become permanent ISPs. The next tranche of consultations are for all through ISPs at the Community School of Auchterarder and St John’s Academy. These started 2 weeks ago. Auchterarder had their staff and public meetings yesterday and St John’s have theirs next week. Education Scotland are also involved and will visit both schools, conduct focus groups and feedback reports. Progress is positive and hopefully in August 2026 we will have 10 secondaries and 19 primaries with ISP meaning children are educated closer to home and not having to travel. Connections and Navigate do not have the same focus as ISPs as they are part time provisions and not the same as schools. An ongoing review looking at staged intervention support has started with their first meeting tomorrow and if there is any need for Union involvement, they are happy to involve them. F Mackay agreed with C Weston’s request to keep them updated. The Chair said engagement from all involved has been brilliant and they are excited about the future. Resolved: The Committee noted the update. 11. PT Protected Management Time Update M Shaw provided a verbal update. He met with C Weston and L J Grant on Monday and agreed the table is to be reviewed by them and the HT Group. In agreement that PTs should have protected management time. Aware there is an urgency to get HTs round the table soon and intention is to meet with C Weston and L J Grant again following that. C Weston said there would hopefully be an update at next JNCT.
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Resolved: The Committee noted the update. 12. Zero Tolerance Approach to Violence and Aggression Incidents in PKC Schools – Teachers’ Panel In addition to the letter submitted by on behalf of the representatives on the JNCT Teachers’ Panel, C Weston said they believed the Council’s 2006 corporate policy for management of violence and aggression has not been extended to schools and as a result they believed their local agreement is not currently being followed and the Council is failing to uphold the LNCT agreement. Teachers’ Trade Unions have been asking for posters for years and been told corporate posters are not appropriate for schools and there is a need to get the right wording, but the corporate policy has an example of clear, direct and easily understood wording. Their evidence from members in schools is that incidents of violence and aggression towards staff are increasing and the of a zero-tolerance framework is having a detrimental effect on staff wellbeing which impacts educational outcomes. They are also sure there is a correlation between absences and violence and aggression incidents although the Council’s absence reporting system doesn’t indicate that many of the absences are directly related. In response D Mcluskey said he had checked with Lorna Hamilton, Health and Safety Team Leader and the corporate policy the Teachers’ Panel are relying on has been superseded by 2021 Violence and Aggression Guidance. He is happy to put out a statement that violence and aggression against teachers and school staff will not be tolerated. The data says incidents of violence and aggression are reducing and he accepts that is at odds with their experience and feeling. It is not a bilateral choice between a restorative approach and violence and aggression. Although the age of a child involved in an incident does not matter the context is the majority are between the ages of P1-P4 and a person’s reaction to an incident will differ depending on the age of the child involved. There are dangers with zero tolerance and there would need to be a discussion as to what it means and what the future looks like. There is a difference between adhering to corporate policy and posters. Thinks they engage well with teachers on this issue and there is already a group looking at reducing challenging behaviour so would need to know why it’s not appropriate to discuss their issues there. In response to C Weston saying she feels violent and aggressive incidents are being underreported with the numbers of reported incidents on SEEMIS different from the number on DASH, D Mcluskey said there is probably underreporting but the numbers have been dropping longer than SEEMIS and DASH have been in place. S Topen-Cooper said he thinks the lack of quick links for forms and teachers being fed up filling in forms in their own time contributes to underreporting and M Laurie said she sees the differences between SEEMIS and DASH contributing
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with SEEMIS being quicker and easier to complete and does not think people are filling in DASH because it is repetitive. M Taylor said she would not fill in a DASH form for a pupil swearing at her due to the time it takes to complete. The Chair said it is important to note that the Management Side does care and if the Reducing Challenging Behaviour Group is not working, we need to revisit that. They do not just want posters and words but an appropriate meaningful policy that makes a difference and that he and Councillor Shiers are happy to be part of any discussions with Councillor Shiers echoing this. F Mackay said she is happy to look at expanding the membership of the Reducing Challenging Behaviour Group and SEEMIS data was discussed at their last meeting. Their next meeting is going to be with Susie Turner’s Relationships Group as the groups should be working closely together. The Chair said he is happy for the relationships policy to be reconsidered but that he backs the restorative approach and D Mcluskey and F Mackay are happy to do that. D Mcluskey said last year’s data shows teacher absences have gone down. In regard to DVCA incidents in term 3 they are looking at putting in a longer break in February and that they are working with the levers and tools available to help those on the front line. In response to J Cook’s suggestion that reducing the time reports take to come back to staff could improve reporting, F Mackay said she will take that forward. L J Grant said she does not see improvements in DCVA data in the years she has been on the panel and that perhaps they maybe need to look at a different matrix for measuring. The Chair said society has changed and we have to deal with and address that. F Mackay said with P1s this year DCVA reports dropped by half and things may be starting to change. D Mcluskey suggested and it was agreed by the teachers that in relation to their letter they could consider it resolved as they are willing to work with them on all their sought resolutions. Resolved: Management willing to work with Teachers’ Associations on all sought resolutions. 13. SNCT Agreement on changes to the Job Sizing Toolkit In response to C Weston saying she brought this to Committee so they are aware of it, D Mcluskey said they are aware of it and where there is a need for action to be taken it will be.
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Resolved: The Committee noted the Agreement. 14. Any Other Competent Business (i) D Mcluskey said in relation to the Working Time Agreement and Parental Contact he has had a request from one school asking for more Contact Evenings and less reports. (ii) P Johnstone thanked the teachers for agreeing to change their pay date and that they will receive their back pay on 23 December. (iii) S Topen-Cooper wanted to make the Committee aware of a recent Scottish Government paper from September on retaining ethnic minority teachers. (iv) Teachers would like meetings to follow a rolling cycle of a Monday meeting followed by a Tuesday meeting, followed by a Wednesday meeting then back to Monday – A McConnachie to investigate possibility of this. 15. Date of Next Meeting 11 March 2026 at 2:30pm in Meeting Room 410, 2 High Street, Perth.