Meeting of the Parliament 28 June 2017
The policy intention is clear, cabinet secretary, but I am not sure about the delivery. If we look at what the educational establishment has said about some of the Government reforms, we see that it seems very uncertain about delivery of the policies in practice.
When it comes to the cabinet secretary’s decision to rule out a greater diversity of schools, he faces a major issue. After almost two years of keeping them waiting, he has told the parents of pupils at St Joseph’s school, the Al-Qalam school, the Glasgow Steiner school, Mirren Park school and the Aberdeen Green school near Maryculter, as well as various philanthropists, that he is interested in their ideas, but he will not move on the radical agenda.
The irony is that he is turning a blind eye to the evidence about what works. Take Newlands junior college, for example, which is a radical departure from the status quo and an institution that delivers top-class results and inspires others to follow suit. Why can that principle not be extended elsewhere? Many times in this Parliament, the Scottish Conservatives have been accused of being ideologically driven when it comes to education, but at every turn what has driven us is what works. I suggest that the very negative reaction to some of the proposed Scottish Government reforms in sections of the educational establishment is more ideologically driven than anything that we have ever proposed. We completely reject the assertion that weaker educational performance in Scottish schools is to do with money and resources; they have an impact, but that is not the whole story.
There are other inconsistencies in the Scottish Government’s proposals, particularly with regard to regional collaboration, which my colleagues will come back to later. As I understand it, the regional boards are supposed to be bodies for professional advice and support. I accept that, but I do not accept that they should have an element of bureaucratic input, which is how it has been presented—that is certainly how it has been interpreted. It should be the job of Education Scotland, if it were properly organised, to provide that support. We have spent many months in the Education and Skills Committee looking at the roles of Scotland’s agencies, and Education Scotland has been found to be wanting in its provision of professional support.
I turn to the Liberal Democrat amendment on Education Scotland. Given the evidence that we took in committee, I was astonished to read that the cabinet secretary intends to allow the inspectorate to remain part of the same body that undertakes curriculum development. His reason for doing that is that inspection is part and parcel of evaluation and improvement. It is, but surely that must be done on an independent basis.
There has been no doubt in the minds of Scottish Conservatives that Scotland’s schools are being held back, not by teachers, parents or pupils, but by a system the evidence for which does not make happy reading and which is too rigid and too doctrinaire on the principle of one size fits all. As the cabinet secretary has said, it is time to change it, but in a much more radical way than is proposed by the Scottish National Party.
I move amendment S5M-06376.1, to insert at end:
“, but, in doing so, deeply regrets the missed opportunity to give full autonomy to headteachers and to further extend choice and diversity within the school system in a way that responds positively to changing parental demand and the philanthropic vision of new types of schools.”
Motions, questions or amendments mentioned by their reference code.