Meeting of the Parliament 22 January 2025
It is too early to judge whether the Scottish Government’s action plan is working, as we have not even got through the first phase of the plan. However, I have not seen any evidence that the action plan is making a practical difference on the ground, so far. I continue to receive reports from parents who are frustrated, angry and feel powerless; from pupils whose education is disrupted; and from teachers who are really frustrated about the lack of support. We must start to see action in this area, or people will lose confidence in the plan’s ability to deliver.
I will make some observations. As a liberal, I always want to understand the root causes of any behaviour and to provide support to address those causes. That is why I am a liberal.
I want to be clear about this. Just because we understand the causes of the violence, that does not make it any more acceptable. There must be consequences for that behaviour, because endless understanding without consequences, support and action does not help the perpetrator, let alone the victim, of that behaviour. Often, I get the impression that some people make excuses for those who engage in violence rather than taking the necessary action and providing support.
My second observation is that teachers need to be empowered, supported and respected. When they are unreasonably challenged by parents, they must have the support of their management. Questioning by management of teachers and circumstances is fair—it is the right thing to do—but management must have the backs of teachers in issues of behaviour in the class. I hear of too many occasions on which the teachers do not bother a second time, because they do not get the necessary support when they are challenged.
I will move on to mobile phones. The evidence for a ban on phones in schools is pretty convincing. They are contributing to disorder and disruption in the class, and they are misused on many occasions. Once we are confident that learning and safety will not suffer—those are two important aspects—we should move towards a nationwide ban.
If the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills needs that power, we should give her that power. Although it is fair that she has given the power to headteachers, that is clearly not enough, because they need to have the support from the centre to deliver something that, in many cases, will be quite controversial.
My final point is on an issue that was raised in the Education, Children and Young People Committee last week—part-time timetables for certain pupils. We heard that some pupils are getting timetables of as little as 15 minutes a week. Sometimes, that is because it is in the interests of the pupil, and that is fine. I get the impression that their getting 15 minutes in school is sometimes done only in the interests of the school. On other occasions, it is 15 minutes because that ticks a box when it comes to keeping the Promise, in that we should not have care-experienced young people being excluded from school.
The experiences will vary from pupil to pupil and from school to school, but people attending the committee last week gave us clear evidence that, on many occasions, part-time timetabling is not being appropriately implemented. I want to make sure that, if there is just 15 minutes in school being provided, the rest of the pupil’s week is populated with support and action, and that they move back to the school in a transitional way. That is important.
15:17