Education debate

Speech delivered on Thu 1st Jun 2006

The Deputy Minister for Education and Young People (Robert Brown):

I am grateful to Lord James for lodging today's motion on education because it gives the chamber the opportunity to consider the Executive's ambitious vision for Scotland's young people, the substantial effort that has gone into our education system since 1999, the process of improvement in which we are engaged right across the board to widen, deepen and enrich the educational experience of Scotland's young people, and to compare that experience to the situation we inherited.

It is difficult now to recall the disastrous industrial relations in education under the Conservatives: the low classroom morale; the reduced numbers of teachers; the inadequate salary levels; the crumbling school buildings; the sense of drift; the lack of being valued that was felt by many teachers and children. That is the legacy of the Conservative years, when Lord James and his colleagues had the opportunity to put their education theories into practice.

Murdo Fraser (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): Will the minister take an intervention?

Robert Brown: Perhaps the member will give me a moment to move on a little bit.

As Lord James rightly says, the agenda has moved on. Today, Scotland's schools are recognised internationally as a success and, in many fields, we are seen as an international standard: teacher induction, continuing professional development, enterprise in education, our provision and framework for additional support needs, and our support for leadership in schools. In the highly-regarded Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development programme for international student assessment studies, Scotland is in the top third of performers, having been outdone significantly by only three other countries. We learn from what works in Scotland and elsewhere and we share ideas with the world's other leading education systems.

Murdo Fraser: As we are currently making comparisons between the past and the record of this Government, is the minister proud of the fact that, since 1997, we have seen a ninefold increase in violent and disruptive incidents in the classroom?

Robert Brown: I will deal with discipline in a moment. I accept entirely that it is a serious issue that I suspect has been a problem since education began.

We are now a country that celebrates success in education. I had the privilege recently of presenting the standard for headship certificates in Glasgow to the cream of our up-and-coming education leaders. Peter Peacock and I have met teachers, classroom assistants, school cooks, janitors, special needs support staff, and many new and dynamic probationer teachers, in visits across Scotland and in receptions at Bute House and elsewhere. I would also like to congratulate all the schools participating in tomorrow's Scottish education awards. No one who visits schools up and down the country, or talks to the staff and young people, can fail to be impressed by the achievements of the system, the buildings that have been built new or refurbished in historically large numbers, and the new teachers—we are heading for our 53,000 target—and the opportunity that they give us when set against the parallel decline in school rolls, to which Lord James referred. Above all, people cannot fail to be impressed by the articulate young people that we are turning out, such as the third year girl at Holyrood secondary school in Glasgow who led the backpack for Malawi venture with huge panache.

Bristow Muldoon (Livingston) (Lab): I would like to address the minister's point about reducing school rolls. Will the minister acknowledge that that is not the case throughout Scotland and that some local authorities, such as West Lothian Council, have seen an increase in school rolls and that our funding mechanisms need to be sensitive to that?

Robert Brown: I take Bristow Muldoon's point. Sometimes the Conservatives do not always recognise that we have a system in Scotland in which the structure and framework are laid down by the Executive, which also provides the resources to a significant extent, but the schools are operated by local authorities that have to deal with their own individual situations.

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton: Pursuant to the question just asked by Bristow Muldoon, will the minister support popular schools and allow them to expand?

Robert Brown: That is part of the Conservative credo but the parallel situation is sink schools that contract; that is the unfortunate by-product of the Conservatives' ideas. We are interested in education for all, not in education for some.

I will talk a bit more about some of the schools that I have seen. There is the impressive pupil council at St Machar academy in Aberdeen, one of our schools of ambition that is developing its sporting and activity prowess. There have been impressive musical and scholastic achievements at St Joseph's college in Dumfries; there are the lively and attractive children at Hallside primary school in Cambuslang and—one of my favourites—Annette Street primary school in Glasgow, which has a rainbow of colours, creeds, languages and backgrounds and, more important, young children who are hugely motivated and excited by their eco-school activities inside and outside the school.

The partnership Government is committed—as I am sure everyone in the chamber is—to providing the best education for all our young people. We know that the world does not owe us a living and that our education system must have a culture of continuous renewal and improvement if it is to continue to fit our young people for the challenges of today's global economy. We are well aware of the challenges and the wasted potential of too many children, not least looked-after children and the wider group who leave school with few qualifications, little motivation, and who are not in education, employment or training.

We do not pretend to have all the answers to those complex issues, but we believe that there is consensus across the political and educational spectrum on many of the key ingredients: the importance of a strong school ethos and values, clear and professional school leadership, early intervention against the background of the achievement of near universal nursery education for three and four-year-olds, and a motivating curriculum that offers relevant and interesting choices for young people in academic and in vocational areas, in school and college settings, but above all in a way that helps to develop responsible citizens, effective contributors, successful learners and confident individuals, building life skills and not just learning subjects. Although those words might be considered by some to be a matter of public relations, they are meaningful to teachers and educators across our system.

The Conservatives talk a lot about choice, reform and devolution of powers to head teachers, but their concept of choice has always been choice for the few, not quality for all. To be fair, the terms of their motion are similar to those of previous motions that they have supported throughout the existence of the Parliament, but I have two complaints about it.

David McLetchie (Edinburgh Pentlands) (Con): Will the minister take an intervention?

Robert Brown: No, I need to make progress, as I have taken three interventions already.

First, the Conservatives have not moved on. They do not recognise the radical, life-enhancing changes that have taken place in Scottish education since they were last in charge. Their policies have about them a whiff of formaldehyde, which is the stuff used to embalm bodies. Secondly, there is a curious lack of detail about what the Conservatives mean by "reform". It is all a little curious. Perhaps they are waiting for instructions from David Cameron who, like the grand old duke of York, marched them up the hill with the most reactionary manifesto in history and is now set to march them down again in his new guise—or disguise—as a liberal-conservative. We should perhaps celebrate today's debate as the last of the debates on the old Conservative education policies. The Executive, on the contrary, is providing more freedom for teachers and schools, more choice and opportunity for pupils, better support for learning, and what the EIS described as an "unprecedented level of activity" on the part of the Scottish Executive and others in response to concerns relating to pupil indiscipline. We have a shared agenda, which is not top-down or dictatorial. Our agenda is about the empowerment of schools, teachers and pupils and about removing barriers and extending flexibility. It is also about trust and respect and an enriched experience.

Let me say a word about discipline. I wish that the Conservatives would read what the EIS committee on pupil indiscipline said in its well-balanced and constructive report. The report, which was primarily directed at assisting teachers to tackle school indiscipline, points out:

"There are no simple solutions, no 'silver bullet' which will solve the problem of pupil indiscipline."

The EIS report agrees with us that the most important things are full and local consultation at school level, clear and concise policies, good communication and consistent application. That is borne out by report after report from HMIE. Evidence shows us that a well-led school with a strong sense of values and motivated teachers and pupils will have less truancy and fewer discipline problems both inside the school and in the surrounding community. The EIS report also makes the vital point that teachers have the right to clear guidelines and practical support, but also have a responsibility to have high expectations of their pupils and to develop their own professional skills in managing children.

Without wishing to rerun the many previous debates that we have had on additional support needs and inclusion, I remind members that there has been no sudden rush to include all children in mainstream accommodation. Indeed, the number of places in special schools or units has changed by only 0.01 per cent in recent years.

Alex Fergusson (Galloway and Upper Nithsdale) (Con): The minister will recall the meeting that he, Maureen Watt and I had with a group of primary schoolteachers who came to the Parliament last week. Was he deaf to what they said when they highlighted some of the real problems that the policy is causing?

Robert Brown: I heard what was said in that regard. I do not pretend that the situation does not vary across Scotland according to differing local needs, but I believe that the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004 and the substantial resources that we have put in place to back that up provide a framework for dealing with such issues in an adequate way. A goodly part of the solution is continuing professional development and the additional specialist support, such as classroom assistants and others, that we have put in place to support the system. That support has changed the face of education substantially over recent years and it will continue to do so as the new act begins to bear its weight.

We have promoted the individually based education that Lord James called for. Our legislation and guidance has increasingly stressed that the objective is education that is suited to the individual needs of the child. We have made it clear that it is up to the head teacher to decide when to exclude children, if that is necessary, but that we want schools and local authorities to provide appropriate alternative provision for children who are excluded. They should not be left simply to stagnate at home or to run about the streets and get into further trouble. That has been an issue from time to time in the past.

We can speak strong words in the chamber about the details, but I know that there is no member who does not believe in the central importance of education to our society and its future. In recent months, I have sensed increasing agreement about the broad vision and direction of travel.

I believe that pride in the many marvellous achievements of our schools in Scotland unites us all. There is also a fierce determination that Scottish education should be the best in the world, bar none. We have a superb generation of young people, who will do great things in the world. It is our job as an Executive and a Parliament to rise to the challenge. I invite the chamber today to support that vision through constructive, forward-looking analysis of the Executive's policies and not to refight the sterile battles of the 1980s and 1990s.

I move amendment S2M-4464.2, to leave out from "believes" to end and insert:

"applauds the fact that the Scottish education system is recognised by international benchmarking exercises as being amongst the best in the world; recognises the commitment of the Scottish Executive to sustained improvement in education and the biggest school buildings modernisation programme in our history, unprecedented stability in industrial relations and increased numbers of teachers and classroom assistants; welcomes the educational legislation which has, for example, established a more individual and supportive framework for children with additional support needs and increased the opportunities for parental involvement in education; notes that the top-performing schools in Scotland have served a wide variety of communities and congratulates all the winners of the SQA "School of the Year" award; welcomes the measured comments of the EIS in relation to discipline policies of the Scottish Executive, and believes that the model for continued improvement for Scottish schools should build on current strength and success and tackle known challenges by fostering the leadership skills of head teachers and other teaching staff, reforming the curriculum, widening choice and reducing unnecessary paperwork, ensuring that teachers are freed up to teach, and pupils to learn, all with a view to equipping young people with the skills and values needed in the modern world."