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PART 1: INTRODUCTION

On 1 April 2007 the national agreement A Teaching Profession for the 21st Century created a body known as the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers (SNCT).


The SNCT is a tripartite negotiating body whose constituent members are drawn from the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA), the Scottish Government and the recognised trade unions representing teachers in Scotland. Appendix 1.1 sets out the constitution of the SNCT.


The principal purpose of the SNCT is to negotiate collective agreements on salaries and conditions of service that assist the development of a highly skilled and motivated teaching profession.


As the negotiating body accountable to the teaching profession in Scotland, the SNCT recognises its responsibilities in terms of equality legislation and is committed to equal opportunities in employment and service delivery. The SNCT values and promotes equality and diversity in the workplace, in schools and in the community and will ensure that its agreements support this commitment and do not discriminate on grounds of age, gender, marital status, disability, race, ethnicity, colour, religion and/or belief, trade union activity, sexual orientation and gender reassignment.


The SNCT is committed to:

a) valuing the contribution of all who work within Scottish education;
b) promoting equality and diversity within Scottish education and it's communities;
c) challenging discrimination;
d) promoting core values of social justice, equality and diversity;
e) integrating equality and diversity into all its activities; and
f) reviewing and monitoring its procedures, agreements and policies to ensure legal compliance.


The SNCT Handbook contains the National Scheme of Salaries and Conditions of Service for Teachers and Associated Professionals. This replaces the Scheme of Salaries and Conditions of Service for Teaching Staff in Schools Education (the 'Yellow Book') and all preceding SNCT Circulars. Appendix 1.2 provides definitions for terms used in the National Scheme.


The National Scheme applies to all teachers and associated professionals and those employees on part-time or temporary contracts will be treated in same way as employees on full-time or permanent contracts. The Code of Practice on the Use of Temporary Contracts, Part 2: Appendix 2.8, embeds the SNCT's commitment to fair treatment and its compliance with the relevant legislation.


The agreements reached at the SNCT are issued as SNCT Circulars. Part 3 of the SNCT Handbook should be used to store future SNCT Circulars and advice from the Joint Secretaries/Joint Chairs.


The SNCT allows certain devolved matters to be negotiated at local level through Local Negotiating Committees for Teachers (LNCTs). (Appendix 1.3 defines national and devolved matters and provides the model framework for local recognition and procedure agreements.) Part 4 of the Handbook contains national provisions that may be varied by local agreement which, when issued, can be inserted here and replace the existing documents. All other LNCT agreements relevant to that council area can be stored in Part 5.


No LNCT can alter conditions of employment contained within the National Scheme nor can it vary a national agreement reached within the SNCT. All local agreements on devolved matters must be reported to the SNCT.


The importance of collegiality is recognised by the SNCT: The Code of Practice on Collegiality is provided in Appendix 1.4.


The National Scheme should be readily available to all those whom it applies and may be accessed from the SNCT website at the SNCT Website.


The National Scheme has effect from the 1 August 2007

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