Meeting of the Parliament 25 February 2015
Indeed—the needs of the economy. Tonight, in Edinburgh, the French ambassador to the UK will be meeting a lot of French companies that operate in Scotland. I suggest that Liz Smith suggests to Murdo Fraser that he changes his comments this morning. The economy is what it is all about, and our children need a well-rounded education to ensure that they can participate in the economy in Scotland. It is not only about STEM. This debate is about STEM and it is important, but we need a rounded approach, and French is part of that.
The last thing that this Government would do is to make it difficult for local authorities to fill the present vacant posts in classrooms across Scotland. Of course there is a problem of teacher numbers, which we have talked about. We have heard the call for a specialist science teacher in every primary school. To my mind, that is more wishful thinking than an answer. It ignores the reality at a time when many local authorities are struggling to recruit primary teachers. When I met members of the Peterhead parent council, who are concerned about attracting teachers to the blue toon, I said to them that we are looking to widen the recruitment pool, not to reduce it.
Another message that Liz Smith could take to the Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition at Westminster is that we should act regarding the foreign students who are studying here in Scotland and consider how we can ensure that we retain them to work and—why not?—to teach here. It is important that we widen our net as much as possible. A few years ago, for example, Aberdeenshire Council recruited in Ireland and Canada. We do not want to prevent foreign students from working here. I would not want to have to go back to my country, but you never know: with the proposed referendum to take this country out of the EU, I might be in that position in a few years’ time.
The reality today is that, despite the backdrop of cuts from Westminster, the Scottish Government is investing in science education, providing £900,000 per annum to the Scottish schools education research centre to support the professional learning of teachers.