Hansard

The Presiding Officer (Tricia Marwick) NPA

The next item of business is a debate on motion S4M-00959, in the name of Alasdair Allan, on Scottish studies.14:54

The Minister for Learning and Skills (Dr Alasdair Allan) SNP

In opening the debate for the Government I will admit a rare thing in politics, which is that I care fairly deeply about whether the Parliament intends to ac...

The Deputy Presiding Officer (Elaine Smith) Lab

We have some time in hand for the debate. I call Claire Baker to speak to and move amendment S4M-00959.2. Ms Baker, you have a generous nine minutes, and I c...

Claire Baker (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab) Lab

Thank you, Presiding Officer.I welcome the opportunity to open this afternoon’s debate for Labour. There has been much commentary on proposals for Scottish s...

Claire Baker Lab

Thank you. It is in English literature, more specifically Sylvia Plath. Although the field is known as English literature, I came to it through the study of ...

Dr Allan SNP

I thank the member for giving way and I welcome the tone of everything that she has said, at least up until that point. She clearly welcomes the idea of lite...

Claire Baker Lab

That is an important point, which the working group needs to look at. As I will go on to explain, many of us have experience—personal experience or experienc...

Liz Smith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con) Con

I hope that I am qualified to participate in the debate, even though I do not have a doctorate. I thank the Scottish Government for at least giving us a litt...

Dr Allan SNP

Does the member agree that one thing that would make a difference—it is certainly a theme that is beginning to emerge from the working group—is for teachers ...

Liz Smith Con

Of course I welcome any measures that give teachers more confidence. What I am asking is: why is it that the proposed Scottish studies course gives something...

Rob Gibson (Caithness, Sutherland and Ross) (SNP) SNP

Children in Scotland have a right to be taught about their country. Far too many young people leave school with little knowledge of Scotland’s history, geogr...

Neil Findlay (Lothian) (Lab) Lab

Like Mr Gibson, I was a modern studies teacher, but I also taught in primary schools until the election. In those schools, I saw a vast range of subjects and...

Rob Gibson SNP

In the past, nobody questioned the higher history module on the history of the Labour Party. That was not seen as brainwashing or an extra addition to the cu...

Neil Findlay Lab

Can the member give us an example?

Rob Gibson SNP

I can give him plenty of examples from where I have taught. The circumstances are such that we have to consider the attitudes behind this matter.

Kezia Dugdale (Lothian) (Lab) Lab

Will the member give way?

Rob Gibson SNP

Not at the moment. During the debates in 2010 about the questions in the census, there was a concern that a question about the Scots language, introduced for...

Liz Smith Con

I totally accept some of the points that the member is making but would he agree that it is the point of the curriculum for excellence to concentrate on many...

Rob Gibson SNP

I think that that will be strengthened by the proposals that we are discussing. The question of esteem is also important in relation to the issue of traditio...

Kezia Dugdale (Lothian) (Lab) Lab

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to the debate. Both my parents are teachers—my dad is an English teacher and my mum is a modern languages teacher—so ...

Dr Allan SNP

I thank Kezia Dugdale for making that point. I merely emphasise what I said before about the recognition of a Scottish studies qualification. One of the opti...

Kezia Dugdale Lab

The minister’s intervention is helpful, particularly as he said in his opening remarks that greater structure is necessary to provide Scottish studies, where...

Kezia Dugdale Lab

I am just coming on to a point that Rob Gibson made about higher history. He said that there was nothing in higher history about Scotland’s history, but I ha...

Rob Gibson SNP

As Kezia Dugdale knows, it is up to the teachers to choose which of those sections they will teach. How many people learn about the wars of independence in c...

Kezia Dugdale Lab

I am afraid that Rob Gibson is incorrect. I am reading from the SQA guidelines on higher history, which state:“Candidates must respond to one context within ...

Marco Biagi (Edinburgh Central) (SNP) SNP

Perhaps Jack McConnell’s most useful contribution to Scottish political debate was his introduction of the term “Scottish cringe” into widespread use. Today,...

Neil Findlay Lab

Will Marco Biagi give way?

Marco Biagi SNP

In previous education debates, I have taken two interventions from Mr Findlay, neither of which was constructive or useful. However, perhaps it will be third...

Neil Findlay Lab

Is Marco Biagi seriously saying that that was the most positive contribution of Jack McConnell’s time as First Minister? I hope that Marco Biagi recalls the ...

Marco Biagi SNP

From third time lucky to three strikes and you are out. I will continue—that intervention does not even deserve an answer.Until Mr Findlay intervened, a cons...