Public trust in the reports of official enquiries commissioned by government and other agencies is generally low. There is often a feeling that the process is stacked in favour of powerful institutions; that senior figures are rarely held accountable for their failures; and that, while the people most directly affected by the issues that led to the review may be listened to, … [Read more...] about The politics of ‘independent’ reviews
Curriculum for Excellence
The parochialism of the present
The present generation of educational leaders in Scotland has a poor sense of the nation’s educational history.They suffer from what the late G. H. Bantock called ‘the parochialism of the present’, a condition that focuses on current preoccupations alone and fails to consider what might be learned from past experience. The failure is hardly surprising since the … [Read more...] about The parochialism of the present
Swinney’s magical mystery tour in education
As teachers and pupils in Scotland return to school after the summer holidays, those in charge are battling to get the system right. Scottish education has been through major reform in recent years. Now much more is coming after Nicola Sturgeon, the first minister, put her deputy in charge.Within weeks of being appointed in May, former finance secretary John Swinney … [Read more...] about Swinney’s magical mystery tour in education
Schools: ending poverty and poor performance
With annual perversity the schools are returning just as Scotland’s main festivals season gets underway.It is also time for the education minister, John Swinney, to take centre stage. He is second only to Nicola Sturgeon in the SNP hierarchy and was willing to leave the key office of finance secretary to sort out the problems in the schools and colleges: only a handful of … [Read more...] about Schools: ending poverty and poor performance
Closing the gap via self-directed schools
In 2007 the OECD conducted a review of Scottish education and concluded: Although local authorities are the employers of teachers and builders of schools their influence is limited by wider arrangements that have a centralising and conforming effect. Such a conclusion aligned with my own experience, both as a secondary school head teacher and as a Director of Education in two … [Read more...] about Closing the gap via self-directed schools