Hansard

I thank the Equalities and Human Rights Committee and the Education and Skills Committee, and—perhaps more importantly—the many organisations and individuals who contributed to these two important reports. A discussion on bullying and personal and social education is well timed because, as many members have pointed out, we are currently in anti-bullying week. It is not always easy for parliamentary debates or committee reports to capture the subtleties or realities of subjects such as social education or bullying in our schools, but we have a duty to explore the issues because of the devastating impacts that intolerance and exclusion can have on our young people.

In reading the reports, I thought about the similarities with my school experiences, and I cannot have been the only person to have done so. More often than not when I deal with education matters, I remark on how much progress we have made and how much more developed our thinking is, but I found it depressing to read about how entrenched a problem bullying remains. We need to understand the terrible effects that bullying can have on children and young people. The impact of one-off incidents or of smaller cumulative cruelties can be deeply felt.

There is a clear connection to personal and social education. I hope that, through developing better understanding of young people’s personal and social needs and supporting their understanding of themselves and one another, we can make progress.

The debate is an important one that brings two important reports together, and I will draw on their common themes and the overlaps between them. On bullying, the Equalities and Human Rights Committee has taken a difficult subject and provided a genuinely helpful look at the intersection between children’s rights, prejudice and bullying. The report improves our understanding of and provides clarity on definitions and terminology. On PSE, the Education and Skills Committee has provided a useful marker of what is going right but also of what must be improved in our schools. Both reports are clear on the shortfalls and the areas where there is a lack of consistency among schools.

The two reports have a number of broad common themes, the first of which is clearly mental health. That bullying has an impact on children’s mental health is a clear conclusion of the Equalities and Human Rights Committee’s report. It is vital that those who are impacted by bullying receive speedy and appropriate support, including through in-school counselling and support beyond the school. That means that the Government must tackle the unacceptable waiting times for child and adolescent mental health services.

Likewise, the report on PSE pointed to the need for mental health to become a larger part of the curriculum. Following publication of the Education and Skills Committee’s report, we received a powerful contribution calling for more resources for PSE, especially in light of the rising expectations that we all have for what it should deliver. The reality is that many teachers find themselves ill-equipped to explore the complicated issues of young people’s mental health.

The next common theme is the need for consistent policy and regular reviews. Both committees pointed out their hopes for and expectations of the Government’s anti-bullying approach, and it is welcome to have that published today. It sets out the need for schools to have a consistent policy, and it contains many positive things that both committees called for. Likewise, I welcome the details that the Deputy First Minister provided about the Education Scotland review of PSE. The Education and Skills Committee set out clear requirements, and I hope that the review meets them.

Both committees grappled with the real tension that exists between the principles of curriculum for excellence and the desire for consistency across schools. That is a tricky issue because although our schools must be able to create individual approaches to anti-bullying and PSE given the evidence from their contexts and communities, we must ensure that there is a minimum level of policy—every child should expect that. We must spread best practice across the whole school system, but that cannot come at the cost of schools not being able to make their own decisions and take different approaches.

Perhaps the most important point that comes from both reports is about culture. We know that we cannot reduce bullying to a simple policy point or instil the right learning in PSE simply through guidance alone, because behaviours are shaped by a much wider range of contexts. The change needs to be across the school community and everyone needs to buy into anti-bullying measures if they are to work. Similarly, we must involve children and young people in the creation of personal and social education if it is to be relevant and therefore if it is to work for them. The Education and Skills Committee’s comments on co-production are vital in that regard.

Both reports highlight the need to improve teacher training—both initial teacher education and continuing professional development. The PSE report highlights that we need to discuss improvements in LGBTI inclusiveness and the bullying report emphasises language and rights.

I sound a small note of caution. While those points are undoubtedly true and important, we are all familiar with the call for education to solve many of society’s ills, whether those are to do with personal finance, intolerance or other issues. We seek to fix that by calling for changes to initial teacher education. Although we need to do that, it is not a simple magic bullet. I sound that note of caution, although we must look to make improvements.

Both reports help hugely in providing clarity on two important issues. However, we have a long way to go in eliminating bullying and improving PSE. I have no doubt that the reports take us a step in that direction.