Chamber
Plenary, 20 Sep 2001
20 Sep 2001 · S1 · Plenary
Item of business
Schools (Assessment)
I am happy to contribute to the debate.
I welcome the minister's statement. It is vital that we recognise and reaffirm from the outset that the child or young person is the most important person in the whole process. Assessment must be a tool to ensure that every child reaches their full potential in education. The educational environment in which children find themselves must enhance their personal, social and academic development. It must also include a range of measures to assess the whole person, not just their academic attainment.
We should recognise that there is far too much assessment. We duplicate much of what is done and we do not do some of what should be done. Now we must seek to standardise what is in place and ensure that the assessment that takes place responds to the needs of each child. I therefore welcome the Executive's commitment to introducing personal learning plans. They are the means by which each child can benefit to the full from the education that is open to them.
The other important aspect of what the minister said is the role of parents in their child's education and the role that assessment can play in ensuring that parents are involved in it. We must make assessment relevant to parents and enable them to be part of the educational process. Previously, I was a youth and community worker. In many of the socially excluded communities in which I worked, far too often parents did not feel part of the education system or of their child's learning because they had been educationally disfranchised at an early stage and had subsequently found it difficult to engage with their child's learning. We need to find ways of engaging those parents.
I will reflect on some of what Conservative members have said. Their contribution—it was sensible for once—was encouraging. It would be nice to have Murray Tosh as a member of the Education, Culture and Sport Committee. I assume that the Brian Monteith who spoke in the debate is the same Brian Monteith who is a member of that committee. It is nice to be able to put a face to a name.
I also acknowledge Murdo Fraser's intervention. I think that we will be seeing more of him in the Education, Culture and Sport Committee than we saw of Brian Monteith. Murdo Fraser is still trying to equate what the Minister for Education, Europe and External Affairs is proposing now with what was proposed in the past by that good old friend of Scotland, Michael Scissorhands, who talked about introducing national tests for five to 14-year-olds—but what he proposed was decidedly different from what is being proposed today.
Michael Forsyth proposed one national test for a child, regardless of their stage or ability and at the same time—one test for everybody. That would have been divisive and demotivating; it would simply have discouraged children from learning. Perhaps that is what the Tories are really about: ensuring that the socially disadvantaged, the poor and the working-class people of our communities cannot achieve their full educational potential and that those in the nice independent sector get the best out of Scottish education. That is not what we are about; we are about ensuring that every child in Scotland can achieve their full potential. That is why testing should be responsive to the needs of the child and should take place at the time that is relevant to their learning and to the stage that they have reached. It should not be just some punitive measure imposed by central Government diktat. Perhaps that is why Mickey Forsyth and his pals were so successful in 1987 and why Scotland delivered its verdict on the Tories then.
We are at the start of a very positive process in assessment in Scottish education. In taking the matter forward, I look forward to working with the Minister for Education, Europe and External Affairs and his deputy through the Education, Culture and Sport Committee.
I welcome the minister's statement. It is vital that we recognise and reaffirm from the outset that the child or young person is the most important person in the whole process. Assessment must be a tool to ensure that every child reaches their full potential in education. The educational environment in which children find themselves must enhance their personal, social and academic development. It must also include a range of measures to assess the whole person, not just their academic attainment.
We should recognise that there is far too much assessment. We duplicate much of what is done and we do not do some of what should be done. Now we must seek to standardise what is in place and ensure that the assessment that takes place responds to the needs of each child. I therefore welcome the Executive's commitment to introducing personal learning plans. They are the means by which each child can benefit to the full from the education that is open to them.
The other important aspect of what the minister said is the role of parents in their child's education and the role that assessment can play in ensuring that parents are involved in it. We must make assessment relevant to parents and enable them to be part of the educational process. Previously, I was a youth and community worker. In many of the socially excluded communities in which I worked, far too often parents did not feel part of the education system or of their child's learning because they had been educationally disfranchised at an early stage and had subsequently found it difficult to engage with their child's learning. We need to find ways of engaging those parents.
I will reflect on some of what Conservative members have said. Their contribution—it was sensible for once—was encouraging. It would be nice to have Murray Tosh as a member of the Education, Culture and Sport Committee. I assume that the Brian Monteith who spoke in the debate is the same Brian Monteith who is a member of that committee. It is nice to be able to put a face to a name.
I also acknowledge Murdo Fraser's intervention. I think that we will be seeing more of him in the Education, Culture and Sport Committee than we saw of Brian Monteith. Murdo Fraser is still trying to equate what the Minister for Education, Europe and External Affairs is proposing now with what was proposed in the past by that good old friend of Scotland, Michael Scissorhands, who talked about introducing national tests for five to 14-year-olds—but what he proposed was decidedly different from what is being proposed today.
Michael Forsyth proposed one national test for a child, regardless of their stage or ability and at the same time—one test for everybody. That would have been divisive and demotivating; it would simply have discouraged children from learning. Perhaps that is what the Tories are really about: ensuring that the socially disadvantaged, the poor and the working-class people of our communities cannot achieve their full educational potential and that those in the nice independent sector get the best out of Scottish education. That is not what we are about; we are about ensuring that every child in Scotland can achieve their full potential. That is why testing should be responsive to the needs of the child and should take place at the time that is relevant to their learning and to the stage that they have reached. It should not be just some punitive measure imposed by central Government diktat. Perhaps that is why Mickey Forsyth and his pals were so successful in 1987 and why Scotland delivered its verdict on the Tories then.
We are at the start of a very positive process in assessment in Scottish education. In taking the matter forward, I look forward to working with the Minister for Education, Europe and External Affairs and his deputy through the Education, Culture and Sport Committee.
In the same item of business
The Presiding Officer (Sir David Steel):
NPA
The next item of business is a debate on motion S1M-2236, in the name of Jack McConnell, on effective assessment in Scotland's schools. I invite those member...
The Minister for Education, Europe and External Affairs (Mr Jack McConnell):
Lab
Effective assessment is at the heart of good learning and teaching and of best professional practice in our classrooms. I welcome today's debate and the oppo...
Michael Russell (South of Scotland) (SNP):
SNP
We will make the argument about publishing statistics part of our platform on another day, not today. For the avoidance of doubt, however, what the minister ...
Mr McConnell:
Lab
I share the commitment of The Scotsman to improved assessment and higher standards in Scottish schools. I hope that it will be convinced by my arguments and ...
Dennis Canavan (Falkirk West):
*
Whatever happened to the Labour party's commitment to replace or supplement league tables of raw examination marks or test results with some measure of added...
Mr McConnell:
Lab
That is exactly what I meant when, a moment ago, I said that I wanted to discuss with stakeholders the best ways of analysing and presenting the information ...
Michael Russell:
SNP
On a point of order, Presiding Officer. When a minister makes what is, in essence, a statement of new initiatives, it is normal for Opposition spokespeople t...
The Deputy Presiding Officer (Patricia Ferguson):
Lab
That shall be noted.
Mr McConnell:
Lab
One minute we are criticised for having information all over the press before making statements and the next minute we are criticised for not making informat...
Michael Russell (South of Scotland) (SNP):
SNP
The motion is comparatively unobjectionable. I say "comparatively" because it contains one thing that my party will have to consider before we decide whether...
Michael Russell:
SNP
Mr McConnell chooses not to stand, so I remain concerned that that is the problem that we face.
Mr Brian Monteith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con):
Con
Will the member give way?
Michael Russell:
SNP
Does Brian Monteith have the answer? How surprising.
Mr Monteith:
Con
I have a question. Can the member tell us when a test is national and when it is not?
Michael Russell:
SNP
I have to say that Mr Monteith and Einstein are also not like minds. If Mr Monteith does not recognise what national primary testing means, or why there were...
Mr Brian Monteith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con):
Con
Forgive me if I believe that Jack McConnell, the Minister for Education, Europe and External Affairs, must every day feel like Phil Connors, Bill Murray's ch...
Michael Russell:
SNP
Michael Forsyth?
Mr Monteith:
Con
Michael Forsyth, that liberal whom Mike Russell knows so well.What do parents say about testing? I quote one parent, who put the matter succinctly:"It is all...
Michael Russell:
SNP
Will the member give way?
Mr Monteith:
Con
Certainly.
Michael Russell:
SNP
I am surprised that the Tory education spokesperson knows so little about what happens in classrooms. There is regular testing in primary classrooms. That te...
Mr Monteith:
Con
I have seen it happen. I put my children through state education; I saw their report cards. I knew which tests they sat and how those tests were administered...
Michael Russell:
SNP
I want to follow up on Mr Monteith's experience. In what exact ways was the information that was provided to him, as a parent, inadequate? What did it not te...
Mr Monteith:
Con
The information that I was not given was the results of the tests. That is the failing of the system that I have witnessed. Information is not available to p...
Michael Russell:
SNP
I always respond.
Mr Monteith:
Con
Indeed.If we regard the SNP as the dinosaur of the education movement, that is because its much-vaunted policies—even reducing primary class sizes—require th...
Ian Jenkins (Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale) (LD):
LD
The Liberal Democrats are happy to support the motion and, indeed, to support Michael Russell's amendment, which makes an important point about the need to e...
Cathy Peattie (Falkirk East) (Lab):
Lab
I welcome the minister's statement. The system is failing some children because we are failing to pick up the signs early enough. That means that special edu...
Colin Campbell (West of Scotland) (SNP):
SNP
When I trained as a teacher, there was no preparation for assessment. We took advice instead from the principal teacher and used the common sense that we gai...
Mr Murray Tosh (South of Scotland) (Con):
Con
How it all comes flooding back as we listen to tales from former teachers around the chamber. We have heard a great deal of common sense, which has been draw...