Author: Lucy Hunter Blackburn
Hard to read the Scottish Budget
“Commentators (myself included) can be pretty critical of the opposition parties at Holyrood for not being more effective. But if the budget document – one of the single most important things the government puts before the Parliament – contains these sort of inconsistencies, they really are up against it.”
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Scotland’s disappearing low income students
“At the very least, the hyping in 2012 of a new of ‘minimum income’ which would benefit all low-income students looks increasingly to have been based on a shoogly set of assumptions about how quite a few of its target audience would respond.”
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Widening access with greater borrowing powers
The Scottish Government is keen to stress the role of college-based HE in getting poorer students into degree courses. But it ignores the cumulative effect of cuts to student bursaries over the years since 2007.
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Wot’s Swinney’s big education idea?
John Swinney is a Big Beast brought in by the First Minister to close the attainment gap in Scottish schools – or “fix” a failing system. Lots of ideas swirling around but a rather vague SNP manifesto – and no clear pointers to the way ahead.
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New Education Minister: raising standards
Her choice of Education Minister will be a defining element of Nicola Sturgeon’s likely cabinet reshuffle and of her first full five-year term as First Minister. The agenda could not be tougher or more complex – and the selection of the minister and team full of pitfalls. Here are a few pointers – and runners…
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