Meeting of the Parliament 17 May 2017
I do not have time, Johann. Sorry.
No one would disagree that, to ensure quality teachers, education programmes need to be of the highest quality in all the key areas—literacy, numeracy, health and wellbeing. An example was given of additional support needs being covered well in one university but not in another. A newly qualified teacher from my constituency whom I spoke to said that there were pretty big differences in the expectations of students from different universities and that she felt that courses should be standardised to address that.
She also expressed concern about the length of the postgraduate course. She said, “It is far too much to cram into a year; it was the most stressful year of my life.” She felt that more time on literacy and numeracy would have been beneficial. Also, she was given only theoretical lessons on behaviour management and ASN, but no contextualisation, which was an issue that was raised by Mr Johnson and Jenny Gilruth. With one in four children in schools having ASN, trainees should be well prepared.
The teacher went on to say that her probation year helped to fill the gaps and that there is also the option of continuing professional development. She felt that, if the course had been a bit longer, it would have been beneficial, but it goes without saying that financial implications would then come into play.
There was a lot of praise from both that teacher and another to whom I spoke for the fact that the Scottish Government paid for their postgrad training. They would not have been able to undertake the course without the tuition fees being met—something that is worth mentioning.
I support the Government amendment’s reference to the work of local authorities, which should encourage teachers to be inventive in how they go about ensuring that they feel able to teach literacy and numeracy. I have a quick example from Coatbridge high school in my constituency. It held a literacy festival recently, which the Deputy First Minister attended, and it was a big success. Schools should be given the scope and permission to do that more often. All the children and teachers were involved in it. It is our job as MSPs to encourage and promote such activity.
In conclusion, we have an opportunity for us all to work together to get the best result.
16:30