Hansard

On such a dismal and dreich day, I was almost looking forward to coming into the chamber; then I heard Des McNulty. I suspect that the truth about the curriculum for excellence lies somewhere between Mr McNulty’s negative picture and Mr Russell’s complete whitewash.

Back in February, the Liberal Democrats decided to focus on the curriculum for excellence in one of our debates. I do not expect anyone to have committed to memory my opening speech in that debate, so allow me to refresh members’ memories. I said:

“Why have the Scottish Liberal Democrats decided to focus on the curriculum for excellence in this debate? First, so that we can reiterate our commitment to it.”—[Official Report, 25 February 2010; c 23961.]

I am happy again to reiterate our support for CFE. We began the process while we were in government with the Labour Party, when our aim was to introduce a more holistic approach to learning and development by providing a curriculum that took us beyond teaching to the exam and which gave greater responsibility to our teachers and schools. We continue to support those principles behind the new curriculum, which we hope will provide opportunities for children and young people to develop as successful learners, confident individuals, responsible citizens and effective contributors.

Like the cabinet secretary, we want to see stability in education, as we think that that is essential for the future. I am sure that he wanted all parties simply to reiterate their support for CFE, but I hope that he will feel able not only to support our amendment, but to do so whole-heartedly, given the importance of teachers to the process.

Quite rightly, we all recognise the outstanding work that is being done by Scotland’s education professionals in rolling out the new curriculum. Teachers, headteachers and classroom assistants are working incredibly hard to deliver the new curriculum across the country. They deserve our full support and they certainly have Liberal Democrats’ backing.

We have welcomed some of the cabinet secretary’s more recent actions, such as the embedding of literacy and numeracy in English and maths instead of having stand alone exams, and the decision to produce further materials and information, which was necessary partly because of the lack of clarity of previous documentation. I do not think that any member would fault the cabinet secretary for his enthusiasm for the new curriculum, which is as well known as his consensual nature. Sadly, however, for more than a year we have heard and shared the considerable criticisms and concerns of many, including teachers.

The 54,000 children who entered our secondary schools this year started the new curriculum in August and will, in time, sit the new national qualifications. We should not forget that those youngsters and their parents faced an extremely anxious wait and a lack of clarity because of the Government’s mismanagement of the new curriculum’s development and implementation.

However, I accept and am pleased that the Government has begun to listen to the repeated calls for clarity and leadership from the Parliament and from many across the education sector. Some attempts have been made to rectify what was a very worrying situation. Moves were made, albeit late in the day, to inform parents, to engage them in the process—which is an issue that we raised with the Government on several occasions—to provide them with information and to listen. It was always a real concern of ours that progress towards the implementation of CFE appeared to involve a conversation that the professions and the Government were engaged in, but not parents and pupils. We see their involvement as crucial and would welcome further comment from the cabinet secretary on that issue.

CFE remains one of the biggest challenges for our schools and professionals in a generation, and that will remain the case for several years to come, but it is also a challenge for other stakeholders, as well as parents. It is fair to say that there is an enthusiasm for the task, as I found when I met Otto Thoresen, the chief executive of Aegon UK, which has its headquarters in my constituency. We talked about the importance of getting financial education embedded in the curriculum and his involvement in that. I think that there is a great deal of good will across civic Scotland towards the concept of CFE.

Although I very much welcome the Government’s current commitment to CFE, it is also crucial that we have assurances from the Government and all parties in the Parliament that the impetus will not be lost, and that we state quite plainly that we will all work to build on the momentum that has finally been gained so that we deliver the best possible education for Scotland’s children and young people. The debate allows us to do that. It is imperative that we continue to work to get the curriculum right, and that means working on it for many years.

It is in the interest of working together to deliver the best possible education for Scotland’s pupils that I say that Liberal Democrats still have real concerns about the implementation of the curriculum and the development of the new national qualifications.

I have said time and time again that teachers are key to our success. There is no disagreement about that across the chamber, yet the Government has allowed teacher numbers to fall by nearly 3,000, with more losses to come. The number of classroom assistants has also declined. We are all too familiar with the plight of newly qualified teachers across the country who are trying desperately to find work. The Government must listen to Scotland’s teachers, instead of pushing aside those who do not agree with its stance or have problems with the support that is available.

For example, we know that the Scottish Secondary Teachers’ Association has been suspended from the curriculum for excellence management board for threatening to ballot on industrial action. Regardless of whether the suspension is justified, it is of huge concern to us that the SSTA feels the need to threaten such drastic action once again, partly because—to quote its chair, Peter Wright—

“on every issue save one”,

its

“well-founded concerns have been rejected or ignored.”

It is worth remembering that the union’s survey last April revealed that 70 per cent of secondary school teachers had issues with the new curriculum. Those people are trained education specialists—people who are at the chalkface during this radical programme of educational change. They have engaged with a number of councils, which have listened to their concerns about the need for further support, and in so doing have diminished the prospect of industrial action. We call on Mr Russell to do exactly the same.

It is worrying that teachers did not have access to the national assessment resource until September, a month after pupils went back to school. That gave teachers no time to get to grips with the materials, to explore the resource and to prepare for teaching. Essentially, our teachers were put on the back foot over the curriculum for excellence and are now being asked to pick up the pieces of an implementation strategy that is way behind where we would like it to be.

In addition, the Government has made no further provision for additional CPD for teachers, should that be required. It now seems that local authorities are in sole charge of ensuring that teachers are properly trained and supported. That is simply not enough—we need to know that Scotland’s teachers will have the support that they need.

Given that the specifics of Scotland’s new national qualifications will not be published until 2012—2013 for advanced highers—a clear framework of support is crucial for our professionals. The framework needs to encompass not only implementation and post-implementation phases but also a support structure for teachers in the years prior to and following the introduction of the new qualifications. It is arguably even more crucial that teachers should have that support when they are being expected to teach the pupils who will sit the qualifications without knowing what those qualifications will look like.

Although we maintain that support during implementation is crucial, we have concerns that the Government has pulled inspector hours from HMIE to help with the roll-out. The fact remains that HMIE’s inspection work has been moved from August to December. We would welcome an update from the cabinet secretary on the issue, which is concerning. We understand why he has taken the step, but we believe that there is potential for difficulty.

Initially, £17.8 million was provided for new investment in implementation. That financed 100 extra teachers and four in-service days for teacher CPD. An additional £3 million was allocated following the introduction of the 10-point plan, but we need further assurance that the support for teachers that is needed has been delivered.