View source for Educational Institute of Scotland

{{Short description|Teachers' trade union in Scotland}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2017}}
{{Infobox union
| name                     = EIS
| location_country         = [[Scotland]]
| affiliation              = [[Scottish Trades Union Congress|STUC]], [[Trades Union Congress|TUC]], [[Education International|EI]]
| members                  = {{decrease}} 58,566 (2024)<ref name=Return2022>{{cite web |title=EIS AR21 Form for the year ending 31 August 2024|url=https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/680f5ba356bc2cfe7f7f5c0a/Educational_institue_2024.pdf|website=GOV.UK|access-date=10 September 2025}}</ref>
| leader_title             = General Secretary
| leader_name              = Andrea Bradley
| full_name                = Educational Institute of Scotland
| native_name              = 
| logo                     = File:Educational Institute of Scotland (logo).png
| logo_size                = 200px
| image                    = 
| founded                  = {{start date and age|1847}}
| dissolved                = 
| merged                   = 
| headquarters             = [[Edinburgh]], Scotland
| key_people               = 
| website                  = [http://www.eis.org.uk/ eis.org.uk]
}}

The '''Educational Institute of Scotland''' ('''EIS''') is the oldest teachers' [[trade union]] in the world, having been founded in 1847 when [[dominie]]s became concerned about the effect of changes to the system of [[education in Scotland]] on their professional status.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Educational Institute of Scotland|url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095742740|access-date=2021-09-27|website=Oxford Reference|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=150th Anniversary of the Educational Institute of Scotland – Early Day Motions |url=https://edm.parliament.uk/early-day-motion/16216/150th-anniversary-of-the-educational-institute-of-scotland|access-date=2021-09-27|website=edm.parliament.uk|language=en}}</ref>  The EIS is the largest teaching union in Scotland, representing 80% of the country's teachers and lecturers. {{As of|2022}} it has 56,342 members.<ref name=Return2022/>
==General Secretaries==
:1910-1915: Samual Murray
:1915-1922: Hugh Cameron
:1922-1926: George Crossar Pringle
:1926-1941: Tom Henderson
:1941-1945: John Wishart
:1945-1952: Alexander J. Belford
:1952-1960: William Campbell
:1960-1974: Gilbert Stewart Bryden
:1974-1988: [[John D. Pollock]]
:1988-1995: [[Jim Martin (ombudsman)|Jim Martin]]
:1995-2012: Ronnie Smith
:2012-2022: [[Larry Flanagan]]
:2022-present: Andrea Bradley

[[File:Scottish_Educational_Journal_June_21,_1979.jpg|thumb|right|A copy of the ''Scottish Educational Journal'' from 21 June 1979, in tabloid format.]]

==Scottish Educational Journal==
The magazine of the EIS started in 1876 as a densely typeset, weekly tabloid called ''The Educational News''. In 1918, the publication was renamed ''Scottish Educational Journal'' (SEJ). Like its predecessor, the SEJ started as a weekly tabloid, but by the late 20th century it had become a monthly magazine.<ref name=SEJ>{{cite web |author=<!-- not stated --> |date=2022 |title=Chronicling the EIS |url=https://175.eis.org.uk/chronicling-the-eis/ |website=175.eis.org.uk |location= |publisher=The Educational Institute of Scotland |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241108144616/https://175.eis.org.uk/chronicling-the-eis/ |archive-date=8 November 2024 |access-date=15 March 2025}}</ref>

==Fellowships==

Since being granted a [[royal charter]] by [[Queen Victoria]], it is the only union able to award [[academic degree|degree]]s.<ref>"1851 Queen Victoria granted a Royal Charter to the EIS. Membership at the time: over 1,800. Among the powers conferred on the EIS was the power to award a degree of "Fellow of the Institute". In 2007, the EIS remains the only trade union which awards degrees." {{cite web|title=History of the EIS|url=http://www.eis.org.uk/public.asp?id=206|publisher=Educational Institute of Scotland|access-date=2008-01-12}}</ref> A recipient of the EIS degree is a ''Fellow of the Educational Institute of Scotland'', denoted by the [[post-nominal]] ''FEIS''.

An early example of such a degree (awarded in December 1847) was worded as follows:<ref>Handwritten copy by John G. Smith, appended to his letter dated 28 Sep 1864 to Southland Provincial Council, New Zealand - Extracted from Southland Provincial Papers, SP 14 Immigration (at very end of Roll 32) held at Invercargill Public Library, Southland, NZ</ref>
{{Blockquote|text=The Educational Institute of Scotland
DIPLOMA OF FELLOW.

We, the Committee of Fellows of the Educational Institute of Scotland, appointed by the General Meeting which was held in the High School of Edinburgh on Saturday the 18th September 1847 to grant Diplomas to those Members admitted within the year 1847 who might be desirous of obtaining the Grade of Junior Licentiate, Senior Licentiate or Fellow, having examined the evidence produced by Mr John Gibson Smith, Schoolmaster of Ednam, in attestation of his professional attainments, experience and skill – and having found that his testimonials certify -

1st   That he is qualified to teach English, Grammar, Composition, History, Geography, Writing, Arithmetic, Algebra, Natural Science, Agricultural Chemistry, Latin, Greek and French.

2nd  That he has taught with acceptance and success during a period of Twenty years all the above named branches -

Do hereby, on the 11th day of December 1847, grant to the said Mr John Gibson Smith this Diploma conferring on him the Grade of Fellow of the Educational Institute of Scotland, with all the honours rights and privileges thereto belonging.

(Signed)  L. Schmits, George S. Davidson, F.R. Low L.L.D., James Fulton, John White, Alex Reid L.L.D., Walter Nichol L.L.D., Wm. Knox.
}}

==Women in the EIS==

The 20 June 1913 issue of ''The Educational News'' reported that the EIS had elected its first woman president, [[Elizabeth Fish]]. The report also reflected on the progress of women teachers in Scotland. "When the Institute was founded in 1847," the report says, "education was looked upon as a man's work." Women teachers were virtually absent in schools before the passage of the [[Education (Scotland) Act 1872|Education Act of 1872]], but by the time Fish was named as president, there were six times as many women teachers as men, and women were also represented in the EIS council. The article also touched upon the subject of [[pay equity]], decrying the "shameful salaries" many women teachers were paid.<ref name=TEN1913>{{cite web |author=<!-- not stated --> |date=20 June 1913 |title=A Woman President |url=https://175.eis.org.uk/a-brief-history-and-timeline/a-woman-president/ |website=175.eis.org.uk |location= |publisher= |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250124052105/https://175.eis.org.uk/a-brief-history-and-timeline/a-woman-president/ |archive-date=24 January 2025 |access-date=14 March 2025}}</ref>

== Industrial action ==
In 2011 and again in 2018, threats of [[industrial action]] by the EIS evoked memories for many of the long-running teacher [[Strike action|strikes]] of the 1980s.<ref name=Scotsman2011>{{cite news |author=<!-- not stated --> |date=29 August 2011 |title=Pensions row could bring first teachers' strike since the 80s |url=https://www.scotsman.com/education/pensions-row-could-bring-first-teachers-strike-80s-1662977 |work=[[The Scotsman]] |language=en |location=Edinburgh, Scotland |publisher=National World Publishing |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231208204129/https://www.scotsman.com/education/pensions-row-could-bring-first-teachers-strike-since-the-80s-1662977 |archive-date=8 December 2023 |access-date=27 September 2021}}</ref><ref name=Denholm>{{cite news |last=Denholm |first=Andrew |date=20 November 2018 |title=Threat of worst teaching strikes in Scotland since 1980s |url=https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/17236551.threat-worst-teaching-strikes-scotland-since-1980s/ |work=[[The Herald (Glasgow)|The Herald]] |language=en |location=Glasgow, Scotland |publisher=Newsquest Media Group |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201108110737/https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/17236551.threat-worst-teaching-strikes-scotland-since-1980s/ |archive-date=8 November 2020 |access-date=27 September 2021}}</ref> During the 1984-86 industrial action almost 15 million pupil days were lost across Scotland.<ref name=Calum>{{cite news |last=Calum |first=Ross |date=30 December 2014 |title=Call to "let Scots stew" during 1980s Margaret Thatcher schools row |url=https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/news/politics/uk-politics/434988/call-to-let-scots-stew-during-schools-row/ |work=[[The Press and Journal]] |language=en-GB |location=Aberdeen, Scotland |publisher= |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201215192324/https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/news/politics/uk-politics/434988/call-to-let-scots-stew-during-schools-row/ |archive-date=15 December 2020 |access-date=27 September 2021}}</ref> It was a sustained campaign in opposition to the [[Second Thatcher ministry|Conservative Government]]. Former trade union leader [[Larry Flanagan]] 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."<ref name=Calum/>

==See also==

*[[Scottish Trades Union Congress]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Official website}}

{{Portal|Organized labour}}

{{Trades Union Congress}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1847 establishments in Scotland]]
[[Category:Trade unions in Scotland]]
[[Category:Educational organisations based in Scotland]]
[[Category:Education International]]
[[Category:Organisations based in Edinburgh with royal patronage]]
[[Category:Education trade unions]]
[[Category:Trade unions established in the 1840s]]
[[Category:Teacher associations based in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Professional associations based in Scotland]]
[[Category:Secondary education in Scotland]]
[[Category:Podcasting companies]]
[[Category:Trade unions affiliated with the Trades Union Congress]]
[[Category:Trade unions affiliated with the Scottish Trades Union Congress]]

{{Scotland-edu-stub}}
{{Scotland-org-stub}}
{{Scotland-poli-stub}}
{{UK-trade-union-stub}}