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An agreement has been reached which has ended Scotland-wide strike action by college lecturers.

Staff had staged a series of walkouts in a dispute about replacing lecturers with lower-paid instructor assessors.

The body which represents employers, Colleges Scotland, said this had not been happening on a national scale.

Strike action was suspended last week when progress was made in talks between the EIS Further Education Lecturers Association and Colleges Scotland.

It was officially called off on Wednesday after both sides ratified an agreement.

EIS-FELA said the solution "protects the interests of lecturers and students" while Colleges Scotland said it was "great news".

However, a dispute continues at Forth Valley College where the EIS-FELA union says about 25 lecturers have been caught up in what it calls a "fire and rehire policy" to replace them with instructor assessors.

An EIS spokesman said the union welcomed the ratifying of the national agreement protecting the role of lecturers in colleges.

But he added: "We also hope that progress can now be made in the ongoing local dispute at Forth Valley College, where lecturers are continuing with strike action over the replacement of lecturers with lower-qualified staff."

Forth Valley College says the instructor assessor roles are comparable to similar posts which have been in place within the college sector since the 1990s.

Dr Ken Thomson, the principal of Forth Valley College, said: "The college recognised the benefits that this role could have for the learner experience and introduced it after a thorough review and lengthy consultation with staff and trade unions.

"Following the college's consultation process, all those impacted were either successful in their application to the voluntary severance scheme or received an offer of employment for either a lecturer or instructor assessor post.

"Those who transitioned to an instructor assessor post have their salary conserved for four years."