Meeting of the Parliament 17 May 2017
In response to Jenny Gilruth’s comments, I am sure that all members will be shocked to realise that my youthful appearance belies the fact that I started teaching in 1979. There will be a few people in here who remember that very long time ago world.
I welcome the opportunity to participate in the debate, but I say gently to the Scottish Government that I regret that, again, education is being debated in Opposition time. The issues are so important that the Government should be providing time for full consideration of all the challenges in education. I know that the Government is focusing on delivery, but the fact of the matter is that we are not delivering and we cannot ignore the figures and evidence that come before us.
Of course, there are many challenges. The work of the Education and Skills Committee is instructive because we have explored on a cross-party basis what is happening in education and have provided an important opportunity for those who care passionately about education and have an awareness of what is happening in the real world to breach the walls of the Parliament. It is essential that their evidence is not simply explained away or used to justify other action, but that it shapes our thinking.
The scale of the response to our committee’s call for evidence tells its own story. In every instance and on every issue there has been a deluge of people wanting to share their concerns and experiences. I note the tone of the debate to date and I welcome the shift to agreement that the Deputy First Minister’s motion presents. I say gently to John Swinney that I welcome that tone and I trust that it represents a step away from what has too often been an ill-judged approach by the Scottish Government, whereby it has sought to shoot the messenger, question the motives of those speaking out or simply ignore the evidence. The Government needs to give proper recognition to the significant concerns shared by students, parents, teachers, support staff and academics. I acknowledge that no party in the chamber has a monopoly of wisdom on understanding why we are where we are and how we must move forward, and that is true for the Government’s party as well as any other. It is not good enough simply to say “We’ve decided to take this approach and if you don’t support us, then you’re not concerned about those challenges.”
I hope that the Deputy First Minister, with his new approach, will reflect on the way in which he and his colleague Angela Constance responded to the Education and Skills Committee report on additional support needs. I was deeply and genuinely offended that that cross-party work, which gave voice to those who represent vulnerable young people, support workers and teachers and that described the barriers to inclusive education, was utterly dismissed.
The issues in that report, which reflected the lack of support and the pressure in schools, are not separate from the issues of achievement in literacy and numeracy; they are interlinked and interconnected. The Scottish Government must move on those issues and understand that we need to move beyond individual policy approaches, as there is a much bigger question here.
Literacy and numeracy are important for young people, so we have to understand the impact of cuts to local services that provide support to vulnerable families and children with disabilities, and recognise that our budget choices are making some circumstances worse. What support is there in and outwith schools for young people, to ensure that that gap that starts very early in young people’s lives is not ignored? For example, we should understand the importance of further and adult education not only to enable individuals who have been failed in the past to achieve their potential, but to tackle adult illiteracy and enable those individuals to support their children in the future.
I urge the Government to make good its commitment to see literacy and numeracy in the broader context of the right to education for all our young people.
16:26