It is safe to predict that education will remain high on the political agenda in the run-up to the 2026 Holyrood elections. In recent years, many aspects of educational provision have attracted criticism and all parties will be anxious to claim that their policy proposals will lead to improvements. Among the topics that have featured in hostile press reports are these:the … [Read more...] about Scottish education: genuine partnership or pre-election fix?
Education
Snobbery at Edinburgh Uni: what a surprise!
Earlier this month the University of Edinburgh issued a request to its students from ‘privileged backgrounds’ not to be ‘snobs’ towards their peers from Scottish and working class backgrounds. Well, well – sounds like the closure of the poverty-related attainment gap might be taking a bruising at my alma mater. Now, of course, like many of those trusted friends who will read … [Read more...] about Snobbery at Edinburgh Uni: what a surprise!
Being a woman writer/leader in Scotland – the imposter syndrome
I went to Strathclyde University in 1968 when I was 17. My mother worked in a bar and my dad was an engine driver. I grew up in a council house and I was the first in my extended family to go to university. I spent the first couple of years at uni never speaking in tutorials and was taken aback when I got a good mark for my first politics assignment. I never failed an essay or … [Read more...] about Being a woman writer/leader in Scotland – the imposter syndrome
Swinney a shoo-in? Nae thanks
The Scottish National Party is increasingly mirroring the party it claims most to hate, the Conservatives, in its propensity for choosing the wrong leader and floundering around in a quandary largely of its own making. Three leaders in one unfinished parliamentary term and each new one imposed without any public imprimatur. As Yousaf prepares to resign as First Minister - at … [Read more...] about Swinney a shoo-in? Nae thanks
Lies, damn lies and education stats
A week after the OECD published its latest (2022) findings in the Programme for International Student Assessment, a triennial exercise known by its acronym PISA, the SNP-led Scottish Government and the party itself are spinning a report purportedly showing the opposite of what the Paris-based think tank has discovered. As Profs Lindsay Paterson and Walter Humes, two of … [Read more...] about Lies, damn lies and education stats