The Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) is the oldest teachers'

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

in the world, having been founded in 1847 when

dominie Dominie ( Wiktionary definition) is a Scots language and Scottish English term for a Scottish schoolmaster usually of the Church of Scotland and also a term used in the US for a minister or pastor of the Dutch Reformed Church. Origin It comes fr ...

s became concerned about the effect of changes to the system of

education in Scotland Education in Scotland is overseen by the Scottish Government and its executive agency Education Scotland. Education in Scotland has a history of universal provision of public education, and the Scottish education system is distinctly differe ...

on their professional status. The EIS is the largest teaching union in Scotland, representing 80% of the country's teachers and lecturers. it has 54,580 members.

General Secretaries

:Hugh Cameron :1921: Tom Henderson :1941: John Wishart :1945: Alexander J. Belford :1952: William Campbell :1960: Gilbert Stewart Bryden :1975: John D. Pollock :1988: Jim Martin :1995: Ronnie Smith :2012:

Larry Flanagan Larry Flanagan (born Scotland 1955) is a Scottish people, Scottish trade union leader and former politician. Flanagan attended the University of Stirling before becoming a teacher at Blantyre, South Lanarkshire, Blantyre High School. He also bec ...

:2022: Andrea Bradley

Scottish Educational Journal

The ''Scottish Educational Journal'' (SEJ) is the magazine of the EIS, which has been appearing, formerly in tabloid format, since ca. 1917.

Fellowships

Since being granted a

royal charter A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, bu ...

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...

, it is the only union able to award

degree Degree may refer to: As a unit of measurement * Degree (angle), a unit of angle measurement ** Degree of geographical latitude ** Degree of geographical longitude * Degree symbol (°), a notation used in science, engineering, and mathematics ...

s. A recipient of the EIS degree is a ''Fellow of the Educational Institute of Scotland'', denoted by the

post-nominal Post-nominal letters, also called post-nominal initials, post-nominal titles, designatory letters or simply post-nominals, are letters placed after a person's name to indicate that the individual holds a position, academic degree, accreditation, ...

''FEIS''. An early example of such a degree (awarded in December 1847) was worded as follows:

Industrial action

Threats of industrial action by the EIS evoke memories for many of the long-running teacher strikes of the 1980s During the 1984-86 industrial action almost 15 million pupil days were lost across Scotland. It was a sustained campaign of industrial action in Scottish education in opposition to the Conservative Government. Larry Flanagan has described it as “''the first time that any group of workers, anywhere in the UK, successfully stood firm in defiance of a concerted, ideologically driven attack by the Tory government''.”

External links

References

1847 establishments in Scotland Trade unions in Scotland Educational organisations based in Scotland Education International Organisations based in Edinburgh with royal patronage Education trade unions Trade unions established in the 1840s Teacher associations based in the United Kingdom Professional associations based in Scotland Secondary education in Scotland Podcasting companies Trade unions affiliated with the Trades Union Congress {{UK-trade-union-stub