Scotland’s largest teaching union backed a motion calling for the ‘workload, contractual and legal implications’ of the Named Person scheme to be investigated.
At the Educational Institute of Scotland’s (EIS) annual general meeting, delegates asked its council to investigate and report on how the role of named person – which will fall to many teachers – affects their present workloads.
The move came after news that eight officials at one local authority had to cover for 80 named persons during school holidays. They received up to 25 referrals a day from the police.
Concerns raised
During the annual general meeting, senior members of EIS stood up and raised concerns about the plans.
EIS council member John Swinburne said the scheme would lead to ‘vast, expensive bureaucracy to no effect’.
He said: ‘It will divert resources from vulnerable children who really need them and it has been got through because people don’t understand the implications of this. It is a misguided, stupid, nonsensical piece of legislation, and who will pick up the tab for it? It’s high time that we’re really, really clear about that.’
The scheme is due to roll out across Scotland in August.
