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Plenary, 08 Nov 2006

08 Nov 2006 · S2 · Plenary

Item of business

Transition from School to Work

Mather, Jim SNP Highlands and Islands Watch on SPTV

I accept that many systems that have worked well in the central belt have not worked in the Highlands and I am not for one minute saying that we should not give local authorities a major role to play, but they cannot have the lead role. There can be only one leader in any entity, and the Executive is responsible for the matters that we are discussing.

I do not apologise for coming to the matter with a business mindset. I am conscious of Dennis Canavan's preparation-for-life criteria, but I want our youngsters to be successful in commercial careers, which is not a bad thing. I am delighted to hear that I am not alone in thinking what I think—in that context, I refer to Scottish Business in the Community, KPMG, Microsoft, Barr and Scottish Power. Scottish National Party members are willing to share our best ideas because the matter is urgent—it is not a question of saving good ideas for manifestos.

As I said, the Government must show true leadership. There must be concrete mechanisms to address the needs of young people, which means that there must be true ownership of the system and a credible mechanism that will boost competitiveness and growth and increase economic vibrancy and opportunities that are open to youngsters.

There are lessons to be learned from people such as Deming. There are Tayside NHS Board representatives in the garden lobby today. That organisation has taken the Deming lessons and has transformed its proposition. We need to learn those lessons on the way we handle not just NEETs but the total economy.

Other lessons need to be learned from people such as Marcus Buckingham, who recommends that we put more effort into finding people's strengths and spend less effort trying to fix the weaknesses. Essentially, he suggests that we should aim for a precursor to a Deming-type transformation.

We should also note the work of Tony Buzan and that of the Gael Ltd software company here in Scotland. Introducing such mind-mapping techniques into educational establishments could provide a mechanism whereby kids who lack the literacy and numeracy that are afforded by a traditional education can get their ideas on paper and so share their ideas and move things forward.

On top of that, we have many great thinkers who tell us what talent is. Steven Pinker gives a lovely definition:

"Talent is a recurring pattern of thought, feeling and behavior that can be productively applied."

The same man says that self-esteem is what drives us all. The key thing for us today is that we need to ensure that we provide as many children as possible with the route to that goal of self-esteem. There are lots of bright people out there and there are lots of simple techniques—such as time management, project management and how to project and sell oneself—that we can teach kids.

However, the most important thing is to pull together the community of interest—the stakeholders—to produce a better result. I have tried to do my bit on that by inviting to the Parliament organisations such as Lothian Quality Forum, Six Sigma Scotland Ltd, Ross International Ltd and NHS Tayside. Next week, I will be host to two academics from the University of Strathclyde and from Glasgow Caledonian University who will talk about how we can use such techniques and methodologies to boost people's confidence. By introducing such things into our primary schools, we can persuade kids that the process of perpetual improvement is as much about them as it is about the wider economy.

I support the amendment in my name.

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Plenary, 08 Nov 2006

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