Hansard

I was a little disappointed by the response. First, it has taken a long time to come to us. During that time, thousands more pupils have been denied technological studies. I understand that the course is now off the curriculum in most west of Scotland schools and that the number of teachers is decreasing and the infrastructure is declining as time goes on.On more specific matters, the Executive claims that, of 6,000 questionnaires that were sent out, only one response was received, which was from Scottish Engineering. That is strange, because when the committee expressed an interest in asking business its views on the future of technological studies, what needs to be taught and what skills youngsters should have, we received quite a number of letters. We received responses from Scottish Enterprise, COSLA, the Construction Industry Training Board and the UK Offshore Operators Association. I find it strange that those organisations responded to the committee but did not respond to the Scottish Consultative Council on the Curriculum, as it was at the time, when it asked similar questions. If the Executive is committed to taking the issue seriously, given that we have had a science strategy, would not it be appropriate to have a document on technological studies? I understood that a short-term working group was to be established. A short-lived task force on the use of knowledge and technology is mentioned in "Created in Scotland—The Way Forward for Scottish Manufacturing in the 21st Century". I understand that the Deputy Minister for Education and Young People, Nicol Stephen, was involved in producing that document, yet there is no mention of it in the Executive's response. The response falls some way short of adequately addressing the petitioners' concerns. The petition raises additional points that we may wish to put to the Minister for Education and Young People.