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Chamber

Meeting of the Parliament 09 February 2012

09 Feb 2012 · S4 · Meeting of the Parliament
Item of business
Review of Teacher Employment
Smith, Liz Con Mid Scotland and Fife Watch on SPTV

I thank the cabinet secretary for prior sight of statement and wish him a speedy recovery in restoring his voice to its normal tone.

I want to ask the cabinet secretary about three things. First, he is well aware that some areas of the teaching profession are concerned—whether they are chartered teachers or not—about the fact that chartered teachers do not always have enough time to read up on their subject material given all the other curriculum for excellence and CPD material that they have to get through. How does he envisage the situation improving in the context of the McCormac recommendations?

Secondly, Gerry McCormac is on record as saying that he wants Scotland to look at best practice in other countries, at home and abroad. Apart from looking at the American examples that the cabinet secretary listed, what specific plans are there to make a comprehensive analysis of best practice in other countries?

Thirdly, recommendations 17 and 34 in the McCormac review encourage greater devolution of planning and staffing decisions to headteachers instead of leaving more responsibility with local government. Does the cabinet secretary agree with those recommendations, and if so, why does he feel it appropriate to say, in the context of the section about external experts,

“I am explicitly ruling out the model that is proposed by Renfrewshire Council, or variants of it”?

Irrespective of whether we agree with Renfrewshire Council’s decision, is it the cabinet secretary’s job to make that explicit statement?

In the same item of business

The Presiding Officer (Tricia Marwick) NPA
Good morning. The first item of business is a statement by Michael Russell on the review of teacher employment. The cabinet secretary will take questions at ...
The Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning (Michael Russell) SNP
It is often said that the quality of a nation’s education system is matched by the quality of its teachers. Scotland has a good education system that is supp...
Hugh Henry (Renfrewshire South) (Lab) Lab
I thank the cabinet secretary for the advance copy of his statement. The McCrone review was about improving morale in Scottish education, supporting profes...
Michael Russell SNP
The idea that a unanimous report from a group as distinguished as the McCormac review group was designed to destabilise and demoralise Scottish education is ...
Liz Smith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con) Con
I thank the cabinet secretary for prior sight of statement and wish him a speedy recovery in restoring his voice to its normal tone. I want to ask the cabin...
Michael Russell SNP
I thank Liz Smith for her kind words. I recall that only last Thursday morning she was criticising my tone, so I am glad that absence has made the heart grow...
Marco Biagi (Edinburgh Central) (SNP) SNP
The McCormac recommendations have been welcomed by a number of organisations, including the Association of Headteachers and Deputes in Scotland, which also s...
Michael Russell SNP
Yes. The timeline declares itself, to some extent. The current teaching salary agreement concludes in April 2013. The establishment of the McCormac review wa...
Neil Bibby (West Scotland) (Lab) Lab
I welcome the cabinet secretary’s explicit ruling out of the model that was proposed by Renfrewshire Council, whereby teachers would be replaced with unquali...
Michael Russell SNP
It is not a slap in the face at all. No progress is made in life unless people come up with ideas and discuss them. The ideas either go forward or are reject...
Clare Adamson (Central Scotland) (SNP) SNP
What measures are being taken to ensure that support is available for supply teachers, so that they have an opportunity to continue their professional develo...
Michael Russell SNP
I have been keen to ensure that supply teachers are in the loop on CPD. Indeed, I have visited and addressed the organisation that is involved in that. I hav...
Neil Findlay (Lothian) (Lab) Lab
Supply teachers would like a job first, before they do any CPD. Given the uncertainty and confusion about the new curriculum, and given the absence of comme...
Michael Russell SNP
I share Mr Findlay’s concern on the supply teacher issue, which I keep constantly under review. As Mr Findlay knows, local authorities make decisions all the...
The Presiding Officer NPA
I remind members that their questions must be based on the cabinet secretary’s statement.
Liam McArthur (Orkney Islands) (LD) LD
I thank the cabinet secretary for advance sight of his statement and empathise with his struggle against the man flu. I associate myself entirely with the ...
Michael Russell SNP
On the second point, I have asked Education Scotland to look at existing best practice, and that will take us forward. I stress that my statement was absol...
Roderick Campbell (North East Fife) (SNP) SNP
The cabinet secretary said in his statement that chartered teachers should be among the first to access the new professional development opportunities. What ...
Michael Russell SNP
I am sure that Mr Campbell wants to rely on my word; others in the chamber apparently have difficulty in so doing. I made it clear in my statement that tho...
Joan McAlpine (South Scotland) (SNP) SNP
Will the approach outlined by the cabinet secretary today impact on the education of teachers at university level? If so, will he tell us what arrangements h...
Michael Russell SNP
I indicated in my statement that universities were a key partner in every part of this. Discussions are taking place with the universities as partners—for ex...
Malcolm Chisholm (Edinburgh Northern and Leith) (Lab) Lab
Last Thursday, the Cabinet Secretary for Justice abolished prison visiting committees and said that he would build on them. Today, his colleague has said tha...
Michael Russell SNP
No. The McCormac committee’s recommendation was entirely clear. It was not a great surprise, because there have been many comments that we need radical chang...
Sandra White (Glasgow Kelvin) (SNP) SNP
Although organisations such as the Association of Headteachers and Deputes in Scotland, the Association of Directors of Education in Scotland, the National P...
Michael Russell SNP
I am happy to give the member the reassurance that lies in the full membership and involvement in the negotiating procedures of the unions. They are a critic...
Mary Fee (West Scotland) (Lab) Lab
How does the cabinet secretary plan to retain probationary teacher numbers while local authority budgets are being slashed? In Renfrewshire, teacher numbers ...
Michael Russell SNP
The last point is not true. The figure has improved greatly over the past few years. Off the top of my head, I think that the figure in terms of jobseekers a...
Graeme Dey (Angus South) (SNP) SNP
The curriculum for excellence is already transforming education throughout Scotland. How does the McCormac report support the curriculum for excellence agenda?
Michael Russell SNP
Everything that we do in education is designed to support the curriculum for excellence, which lies at the heart of the work that we do. Since I became Cabin...
Mark Griffin (Central Scotland) (Lab) Lab
Chartered teachers make a positive contribution to our education system; that is what headteachers and the General Teaching Council for Scotland tell us. In ...