Meeting of the Parliament 13 June 2024
I am pleased to speak in the debate and I thank Fulton MacGregor for bringing it to the chamber. I am particularly keen to see a wider debate about whether to move to a kindergarten system and stage in Scotland, delaying the commencement of formal education to perhaps six or even seven.
As the motion says, such an approach is not uncommon internationally, with countries taking that approach often having higher levels of attainment than produced by our UK system. I can see the advantage in having an expanded and structured play-based system in Scotland. Fulton MacGregor suggests that there would be benefits for physical fitness, social skills and cognitive capacity more generally, which would put in place the building blocks for longer-term learning and enhancing children’s personal qualities.
As anyone would do when looking at changes to the school system, I tend to think of my own family. My son could have gone to school at four but went at five years old, when he was certainly more than ready to go to school. He went to a superb nursery, but he was ready to move on, so the question we must ask ourselves is what children move on to.
There are play-based activities in primary 1 and onwards anyway, so perhaps those could be expanded and a hybrid system could be introduced to the early years of primary school, instead of expanding the early years sector. That might be a possibility. That is my way of saying that I am willing to be convinced about having a kindergarten stage, which is what our conversation is all about.
I want to know about the interaction between core literacy and numeracy skills and how they will be enhanced at that early stage as part of active play and structured learning in a delivery model that is different to the current one. Interestingly, I was told at a recent parents night that there will be a more structured and traditional approach to learning for my son when he enters primary 4 in mid-August. We can already see that schools and local authorities are seeking to innovate from primary 1 to primary 3 and will continue doing so.
I remember, when my son was in primary 1, that parents, including us, asked why the kids did not have pens or pencils in their hands and were not doing a lot of writing. It was explained to us that working with young people’s emotions, interpersonal skills, self-worth and dignity is vitally important and is a really good foundation for later life and, importantly, for learning. That is my way of saying that some of what Fulton McGregor wants—maybe just a wee bit—might be starting to evolve naturally in the innovation that is happening in primary schools now and that I am willing to be convinced about a more dramatic shift.
It is a fascinating idea. I think that we would have to build a lot of faith with many parents, who would be saying in response, just as I would be, “Where is my kid’s jotter? Where is their pencil? Where is their homework?” and all those kinds of things that we naturally come to expect. If we are developing and innovating, we have to take parents and young people with us; it is vitally important to have the conversation. I have a wee girl who is three, and as a dad, as much as an MSP, I am interested to know what that would look like for me and my family, as well as for all the families that I am proud to represent in Maryhill and Springburn.
Given the time constraints, I will leave it there. I thank Fulton MacGregor for securing the debate.
13:05