Meeting of the Parliament 06 March 2024 [Draft]
I do, but I also point out that I managed to get hold of the report. What concerned people was the cabinet secretary’s statement that said:
“I don’t oversee education locally. That’s a matter for the local authority”;
that
“The appropriate response here is a matter for Aberdeen City Council”;
and that the report was merely a local “snapshot”. We know that none of those is the right response. I suspect that, on reflection, the cabinet secretary agrees.
This is absolutely a Scottish Government issue, and there is no shortage of solutions. The solutions are actually set out in the EIS’s “Stand up for quality education” campaign and the Aberdeen EIS report that I referred to, in the NASUWT’s “Better deal for Scotland’s teachers” campaign, and in the representations that we are all getting from Scotland’s teachers and educationists, including Professor Lindsay Paterson, as well as YouthLink Scotland and the General Teaching Council for Scotland.
Throughout this afternoon, members will articulate those solutions and, no doubt, their own. However, I will set out my overall thoughts. The SNP Government must take responsibility—this is a devolved matter and the responsibility lies four square at this Government’s door. There must be proper national data collation by the Government, which will stem from trusted consistent reporting by teachers who have been given faith in the system—something that has been picked up in the Labour amendment, which we will vote for.
There must be a proper strategy in place. In Aberdeen alone, the majority of teachers believe that their schools lack effective strategies to address violence. The strategy must start with real boundaries and proper consequences, including the possibility of exclusion. We must empower headteachers, and the Government must finally honour its promises, which were made 17 years ago, on reducing class sizes.
Finally, the Government must look beyond its siloed thinking on education—my colleagues will talk more about that—because behaviour is often a function of issues that are generated and experienced outside, and are unrelated to, the school or the environment in which people are schooled.
The time for talking is over: actually, it was over years ago. The time for real action is right now. There must be no more behind-closed-doors discussion groups that never seem to report, no more slopey-shouldering to cash-strapped local authorities and putting the blame on teachers, and no more ignoring powerful reports. For every moment in which nothing is done, our kids and our teachers are being mentally and physically assaulted. Our parents despair because they are sending their children to school uncertain of their safety and uncertain about what is happening in their classrooms while they are trying to learn.
Parliament—vote for my motion. For the sake of all in our schools, let us get on with it.
I move,
That the Parliament believes that no pupil, teacher or member of school staff should suffer physical or verbal abuse and that every child and young person has the right to an uninterrupted school day, free from violence and disruption; notes the impact that the current escalation of violence in schools has had on the teaching profession, especially in relation to retention and mental health; further notes, with concern, the alarming reports of instances of violence and disruption, and calls on the Scottish Government to support parents, teachers and staff, assisting them in promoting acceptable behaviour and tackling instances of violence and disruption; calls on the Scottish Government to support children and young people impacted by violence and disruption in schools and to facilitate an environment in which all young people are safe to learn, develop and grow, and further calls on all Members of the Scottish Parliament to work together in tackling the seriousness of this issue, diligently and without delay.
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