Meeting of the Parliament 25 February 2015
I will try to come on to teacher numbers in a moment, if the member will excuse me.
One of the recommendations in the final report from the commission for developing Scotland’s young workforce is on STEM education. The report says that
“A focus on STEM should sit at the heart of the development of Scotland’s Young Workforce”,
and it calls for long-term partnerships to be established among schools, colleges and employers to bring about significant change. The Scottish Government is committed to implementing the recommendations of that commission, so it has already agreed to take forward the very recommendation on STEM education that many people have called for.
We all understand that the underrepresentation of women in STEM subjects is a serious problem that has to be addressed, but the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning has said:
“There is no such thing as ‘a girl’s job’ or ‘a boy’s job’ and any perception that such unhealthy boundaries still exist need to be changed, whether they’re held by employers or young people exploring their career options.”
In fact, the letter of guidance that was issued to the Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council on 31 July 2014 by the former education secretary, Mike Russell, said:
“I want a renewed focus on reducing gender segregation in participation: too many college and university courses are dominated by either men or women”.
Action is being taken. Of course it is not quick enough and it does not have an immediate impact in bringing about some of the changes that we want to see, but the issue has been recognised by the Scottish Government and efforts are being made to reverse some of the trends.
On students who take science, last year there was an increase in higher entries in all three of the main science subjects—biology, chemistry and physics—and pass rates are holding up very strongly. As I said earlier, there is not the cataclysm that some have suggested.
On the issue of teacher numbers, the Deputy First Minister has of course already announced that £51 million is on offer for councils for 2015-16 to protect teacher numbers. I will not quote the head of the Educational Institute of Scotland, but at a meeting of the Education and Culture Committee earlier this year and in news reports he made very clear his view about the actions of individual councils and their responsibility for keeping up teacher numbers.
A deal was struck on teacher numbers, but it takes two to tango. The Government made sure that it held up its side of the bargain, and it is about time that some of our local authorities held up their side of the bargain on teacher numbers. If they did, maybe we would not have some of the problems that we are facing with teacher numbers declining.
16:20