Sir, – Just about the worst thing that could happen following the publication of the Pisa results is yet another outburst of party-political bickering and point scoring.
Scotland’s education system is not in a bad place – the Pisa result place us as average.
Rather than seeing ourselves in some kind of terminal decline, I would prefer that we see average as the stepping-off point to get us to great or excellent.
But first we need to have honesty in our analysis of how we have reached this point and then put in place evidence supporting changes.
Here’s my starter for 10.
Teaching used to be one of the most respected professions in Scotland.
It is significant that in those countries at the top end of the Pisa research teaching and the teacher profession has developed that status.
We should aim to attract the very best talent and graduates into teaching.
We’ve got to give teachers a fair chance.
The Scottish Government has made progress in this area by focusing on early years.
This needs more investment in pre-birth, parenting and early child development.
Linked to this are issues of equity and poverty, where Scotland scores poorly.
Until this is addressed our potential will not be realised.
Where they are responsible the Scottish Government should hold their hands up.
Workforce planning has been poor.
The unavoidable fact is that there is a significant teacher shortage, and has been for at least five years, and in some subject areas – the ones used by Pisa (English, maths and science), the shortage is concerning.
The negative impact of this cannot be over-stated as it impacts on other teachers and on the bureaucracy of all teachers.
Head teachers are diverted from focusing on teaching to finding cover, which impacts on the learning experience.
All evidence suggests the focus needs to be on school leadership and the quality of teaching.
We need to free up head teachers and teachers to hone their skills by sharing good practice.
As things stand there are far too many barriers and distractions.
I understand the political pressure on the Scottish Government around Scottish education. But rather than focus on radical reform, as the education secretary appears to be suggesting, I would urge the Scottish Government to focus on addressing the above issues.
One other feature of those countries that are towards the higher end of the Pisa scale is the absence of political wrangling and of using education as a political football.
I hope the Scottish Government and the opposition parties take note.
Councillor Bryan Poole.
49 Wemyss Place, South Road,
Cupar.
End the focus on separation
Sir, – So Scotland’s standards of education have declined over the last decade and more.
In reading, Scots are now at 23rd in the Pisa rankings, whereas in 2006 they were at 11th and in 2000 at sixth.
This is lamentable for what used to be one of the best-educated populations in the world.
It may be that it owes something to the confusion being sown in young pupils’ minds by the imposition of faux Scots in the curriculum.
This invented language owes more to Stanley Baxter than it does to any living tongue.
Children are set tasks requiring them to read, spell and write in this language at an age when their real need is to consolidate their learning in standard English.
It is all intended to hammer home a spurious differentiation between Scotland and England that is part of the SNP’s strategy for winning Scots over to separation.
According to Professor Lindsay Paterson of Edinburgh University, the culprit for falling standards appears to be the much-vaunted Curriculum for Excellence.
In a damning interview, he referred to its “rather Mickey Mouse approach to cross curricular themes and lots of other projects that are rather beside the point at that age”.
Is this all simply a matter of incompetence, of a misplaced sense of innovation – or is it a cunning plan to dumb down education so that Scots are incapable of seeing the patent flaws in the SNP’s arguments for separation from the UK?
Jill Stephenson.
Glenlockhart Valley,
Edinburgh.
Trump deserves the Nobel prize
Sir, – Donald Trump promises to avoid the arrogant military interventions that undermined every Middle Eastern secular ruler who stood between the civilised world and religious barbarism.
This is more worthy of a Nobel Peace prize than the gesture to Barak Obama whose feckless policies led to chaos in Egypt, Libya and Syria and created Europe’s dire refugee problem.
Rev Dr John Cameron.
10 Howard Place,
St Andrews,
10 years of SNP failure in schools
Sir, – On the basis of falling standards in Scottish schools for maths, reading and science reported in the latest survey of international schools performance (The Courier, December 7), the SNP has clearly failed us.
After 10 years of SNP governance of Scottish education their influence in education has been to make things worse.
The First Minister tried to reassure us when she said she should be judged on the basis of her record on education, but that was mere rhetoric as she demonstrates that engineering a second referendum off the back of the Brexit is her main focus.
John Swinney’s response to these latest figures is to say that radical reform is needed if Scottish education is to get back to its once enviable world class standing.
Yet the last radical new approach in the shape of the Curriculum for Excellence has clearly not delivered for Scotland.
Many teachers warned from the start that this system over promised on the benefits for pupils while burdening teachers with more bureaucracy and mountains of guidance full of jargon and platitudes.
Meanwhile, teaching numbers have fallen under the SNP, leaving those delivering education in Scotland with unwieldy workloads and too often finding paperwork taking precedence over real teaching.
Mr Swinney needs to listen to teachers in schools rather than following the lead of educational experts who never tire of devising new systems that in practice simply make things more difficult for teachers and their pupils.
Keith Howell.
White Moss,
West Linton
Teachers have enough to do
Sir, – The front page news is that the standard of education in Scotland is slipping.
Is it really such a good idea to make a bad situation worse by adding to teacher workload with the named person scheme?
Stephen Younger.
43a Main Street,
Strathkinness,
St Andrews.