After months of simmering opposition, the Scottish Government’s difficulty with P1 testing has now come to the boil.Various stakeholders had expressed opposition to testing four- and five-year-olds – the EIS, Connect (formerly the Scottish Parent Teacher Council), as well as various children’s charities. In the past few months many individual parents, teachers and … [Read more...] about Testing time for the Scottish Government
Scotland’s ‘addiction to the belt’
Ironically it was that very English newspaper, The Guardian, which provided lots of Scots with the opportunity to tell the world about their experience of the belt in Scottish schools.Its columnist Ian Jack was responding to an article I had written in the Scottish Review. In it I argue that state schools in Scotland used corporal punishment much more than their English … [Read more...] about Scotland’s ‘addiction to the belt’
Poverty Safari: growing up with ACEs and toxic stress
In his semi-autobiographical book Poverty Safari Darren McGarvey reports that when he talked to the media and spoke at meetings, people wanted him to tell them about ‘his dead mum’.Darren’s personal story is acutely dramatic and it’s easy to see how the media would be drawn to its more sensational elements. But humans, as a species, think and communicate in stories. So, … [Read more...] about Poverty Safari: growing up with ACEs and toxic stress
Man O’ Independent Mind: Darren McGarvey’s Poverty Safari
There’s a line in Robert Burns poem, A man’s a man, about ‘the man o’ independent mind’. Judging by the number of times it’s quoted, not least on Burns Night, this is something Scots value. But men, and women, o’ independent mind are in short supply, in Scotland and beyond. The man o' independent mind He looks an' laughs at a' that We’re now living in a world that’s … [Read more...] about Man O’ Independent Mind: Darren McGarvey’s Poverty Safari
Class, alcohol, drugs and adverse childhood experiences in Scotland
I recently had the privilege of seeing the documentary Resilience again, this time at a showing primarily aimed at MSPs in the Scottish Parliament.For those who aren’t aware of the film and the movement growing up around it ‘Resilience: The Biology of Stress and the Science of Hope’ is an hour long documentary made by James Redford, son of the famous actor Robert Redford. … [Read more...] about Class, alcohol, drugs and adverse childhood experiences in Scotland