Scottish Union for Education – Newsletter No74

Newsletter Theme: pride in education, not in sexuality or identity

Jun 13, 2024

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Today we find ourselves in a strange situation, one where although standards of education in Scotland are falling fast, we have an oncoming election where there appears to be zero interest in the issue of education. Meanwhile, the issue of Pride is once again with us, in the form of LGBT awareness raising and the seemingly obligatory, and not uncontroversial, ‘Progress’ Pride flag that now incorporates and promotes, centre stage, the idea of transgender identities.

The major problem of standards in education in Scotland is widely recognised, but solutions to this problem are thin on the ground. Indeed, for almost all the major political parties, the easy argument – the call for more resources – appears to be as good as it gets. But it is not the lack of resources that has led to the current situation – it is a lack of clarity of purpose.

In a speech at the annual general meeting of the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS), the main teachers’ union, general secretary Andrea Bradley managed to lump the need for a ‘quality education’ with other supposed aims of education, including ‘peace’, ‘equality’ and ‘climate justice’. This co-opting of education to impose adult political concerns onto school children is an example of what is contributing to, rather than helping to solve, the problem of collapsing standards. Further evidence for this misuse of the educational system is provided by the EIS unanimously passing a motion to promote transgender ideology in schools. One wonders if these teachers have any understanding of what schooling and education are actually about!

The EIS, along with much of the educational establishment, appears to have blocked out any concerns raised by the Cass Review about the potential harms of promoting transgender ideology to young children. In many respects, it feels like the concerns raised by Cass have led to a doubling down of transgender activism in schools. At the same time, we now find that transgender rights activists are working with the SNP to open up a new gender clinic for children. All this at a time when little or nothing is being said about the actual problem of education in Scotland, a problem that has left us in a situation where ‘one in three Scottish children are struggling to learn to read in schools’.

The transgender issue in schools is serious, important, and potentially dangerous to all children. However, it is not a standalone issue but rather comes with a package of ‘caring’ wellbeing policies that lie at the heart of the Curriculum for Excellence. They are part and parcel of a new outlook and approach to education, one that could perhaps be summed up through the idea of ‘inclusion’.

As we approach the election, SUE wants to examine the changing nature of education in Scotland and attempt to understand why something so important has become a secondary consideration for our politicians, and arguably for society itself. It wasn’t long ago, for example, that Tony Blair’s New Labour government was elected on the back of the slogan ‘Education, education, education’. Ironically, however, when you study what this meant, you find that it was in fact part of the problem, because strangely (as we will explore next week), through this ‘new’ promotion of education, education itself was being both transformed and undermined, leading the way to many of the problems we face today.

Below, Julie Sandilands starts a discussion about what practical changes are needed in schools to turn the tide and make Scottish education something that we can all be proud of.

Stuart Waiton, Chair of SUE

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An alternative education policy document with the aim of returning Scottish education to its historically superior level

Julie Sandilands is SUE’s education correspondent. She is an English and business teacher who worked in several secondary schools in Fife until 2017.

Funding

In 2022–2023, public expenditure on education and training came to just over an eye-watering 10 billion pounds, representing 9.4% of total expenditure. This colossal investment doesn’t just include the fixed costs of providing the infrastructure for a functioning system, it also incorporates a wide range of what could be termed ‘added value projects’, for example, generous funding to influential third-party activist organisations and advisory panels, and large-scale initiatives such as the Scottish Attainment Challenge. What has become abundantly clear is the failure of the current expenditure policy to provide any notable returns on this vast taxpayer investment. It’s time to re-evaluate priorities and redirect funds into areas that will directly improve the service for all its stakeholders.

Immediately disband and pause all funding to advisory panels, committees, task forces and activist groups at both national and regional levels. Regroup and re-establish based on individual need. The money saved will be used to recruit new teachers and maintain teacher numbers.
Review the Attainment Challenge budget and prioritise strategies to support students who have fallen behind in attainment (i.e. numeracy and literacy interventions at both primary and secondary levels). To ensure accountability and transparency, each school must provide evidence on how any funding has been spent and indicate the success (or otherwise) of each strategy employed. These reports will then be collated by each local authority before being passed on to the government.
Review and restructure both the Scottish Qualifications Agency and Education Scotland to ensure the highest quality curriculum content, guidance, and externally assessed qualifications without duplication of financial or human resources.

Curriculum

The long-term decline in Scottish education, as frequently reported, has been going on for well over a decade, and government decisions during the Covid era, while continuing to have some impact, cannot be entirely to blame. The latest dismaying PISA results in literacy and numeracy are indicative of continual failed policies. As a starting point to restore trust and confidence (and its reputation), Scotland needs to recreate a solid evidence-based curriculum ensuring that all children achieve their potential at the end of each phase.

Remove all critical race theory, gender ideology, and environment alarmism from the primary, secondary and tertiary curriculum, initial teacher education (ITE) programmes, headteacher qualification requirements, and continued professional development training materials.
Ensure that all S4 pupils study a minimum of seven subjects, including at least two STEM subjects, in line with other parts of the UK, to increase career and further study opportunities.
Rename the Curriculum for Excellence to the more straightforward, no-nonsense Scottish National Curriculum.
Literacy: introduce reading-age tests at P4 and within the first term of P7. Scores should be shared with all stakeholders (most importantly, parents) to ensure that pupils are adequately prepared for the third-level phase. Introduce literacy intervention for those struggling to achieve expected levels. Ensure all reading and writing assessments are paper based.
Numeracy: introduce paper-based competency assessments using the Curriculum for Excellence expected outcomes at P4 and within the first term of P7. Scores should be shared with all stakeholders to ensure that pupils are adequately prepared for the third-level phase. Introduce numeracy intervention for those struggling to achieve expected levels.

Initial teacher education

Scotland has a serious problem with teacher training and its General Teaching Council. Teacher training courses are not recruiting or producing enough teachers in the right subjects, and subject-specific skills are not being taught properly. The General Teaching Council has been ideologically captured, and a culture of intolerance has been created in which trainee teachers are taught how to promote the ‘correct’ political values rather than develop their understanding of their subject or a range of pedagogies. As a consequence of a decline in teachers’ ability to be impartial, their authority has been undermined. They also seem to have lost a sensitivity to what is age-appropriate, not just in relation to sex education but also in relation to many issues debated in modern life, such as climate change, armed conflicts, and politics generally. Teachers are now encouraged to see themselves as activists tasked with educating future activists, rather than as objective and impartial observers hoping to enable children to evolve into independent, thoughtful adults.

Improve the calibre of new teachers joining the profession by introducing standardised literacy and numeracy tests (standard assessment tests) for all ITE applicants as a prerequisite to entry.
Adequately prepare student and newly qualified teachers for the classroom by ensuring that specific elements, i.e. classroom management skills and pedagogical approaches to core subject content (literacy and numeracy), are mandatory units within ITE.
Promote the flexible route of induction (akin to an apprenticeship), where student teachers can achieve full registered teacher status while gaining work experience within schools.

Managing students with one or more additional support needs

Some children need additional support, and it is imperative that this is provided, but when the proportion of these children is approaching forty percent, it’s time to look more carefully at why this is happening. The growing number of students in a classroom who are registered as having an additional support need (ASN) undermines those with genuine special needs, ultimately taking away crucial support for learning, with resources diverted to managing persistent disruptive behaviour. This continued rise is simply unsustainable and risks the need to cut budgets in other areas of the sector, as well as placing ever-increasing demands on teachers endeavouring to deliver the curriculum. The time has come to have a realistic, honest conversation on how best to support pupils who bring additional challenges to the classroom, as a post-school positive destination is often determined by the number of qualifications achieved in senior phase. The idea of an ‘inclusive’ education sounds nice, but for some individuals, ordinary school life is very difficult to deal with, while teachers and schools often struggle to educate classes while trying to support some children with severe support needs. Rather than a one-size-fits-all, we should aim to help these individuals and assist schools by doing the following.

Reintroduce off-campus specialised learning centres, staffed by experienced support staff, to accommodate (temporarily or permanently) pupils who struggle to cope in a mainstream setting due to complex social, emotional and behavioural needs.
A commitment to establish a network of schools, in both the independent and the public sector, specialising in the care and education of pupils with physical challenges, i.e. those registered blind or deaf, or with limited mobility, with the aim of providing high-quality support for them and their families.
Introduce a clear, concise procedure for a school diagnosis of an ASN (to be used by all schools) when allocating an ASN label to a pupil and adding them to the school special educational needs register. A review of existing diagnoses using the new procedure to be undertaken, with regular statement reviews, including from medical professionals (e.g. biannually).

School ethos and expectations

Research by the teachers’ union NASUWT found that serious disruptive behaviour is on the rise in Scottish schools. The report also highlighted an over-reliance on often ineffective restorative approaches to managing poor pupil behaviour, which is driving a rise in violence and abuse of teachers. Poor behaviour is one of the main barriers to education, whether it be persistent and low level or a full-on disruptive incident that stops the lesson entirely. But rather than being managed through a positive behaviour management system which encourages personal responsibility and self-discipline, there is a growing trend to see it as a condition, a vulnerability requiring a therapeutic, analytical approach. In some instances, this maybe the case, but it should not be the go-to, easiest-to-reach one on the shelf. Sometimes, it is what it is and should be managed as such.

Give headteachers the autonomy to create and implement a positive behaviour management policy, clearly outlining expectations of behaviour and attitude. This must include persistent absence and latecoming, with restorative practice as a complement to any policy and not an alternative. A positive ethos will also impact professionalism, which in turn would reduce staff absence and high turnover.
Review the management information system (SEEMIS) software application for recording and reporting absence to ensure that it accurately reflects absence and latecoming, and differentiates between absence from school and absence from lessons.
Create an independent inspectorate team to oversee practice in schools:
for primary – a team consisting of headteachers and experienced teachers (practising or recently retired)
for secondary – a team consisting of headteachers and experienced teachers (practising or recently retired) from different subject areas, including pastoral
inspection reports would not be graded but indicate areas of strengths and areas for development, allowing schools within each regional area to share good practice
a guarantee of an inspection every five years and/or a follow-up after two years if deemed necessary by the visiting team
all reports to be accessible via an inspectorate website.

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News round-up

A selection of the main stories with relevance to Scottish education in the press in recent weeks, by Simon Knight

https://substack.com/home/post/p-145328884?source=queue Joanna Williams, Why we should scrap the Equality Act New Labour’s flagship equality law has let identity politics run amok for the past 14 years. 05/06/24

https://www.helensburghadvertiser.co.uk/news/24238366.john-logie-baird-primary-pupils-take-streets-protest/ Emma Reilly, Pupils at a Helensburgh primary school took to the streets to take part in a protest demanding equality for all. 08/04/24

Colin Wright, American College of Pediatricians issued a statement calling on major medical professional organizations in the US to stop socially, hormonally, and surgically transitioning children. 07/06/24

https://substack.com/home/post/p-145529141?source=queue Kate Deeming, Could the EIS be considered a terrorist organisation? With their latest motion to promote self-id in schools they are grooming children for known harms. 11/06/24

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/06/04/trans-rights-activist-help-snp-set-nhs-child-gender-service/ Daniel Sanderson, Trans rights activists help SNP set up a new NHS child gender service. Activists who publicly trashed the Cass Review and promote puberty blockers are working with Scottish Government. 04/06/24

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/06/10/labour-vat-tax-raid-private-schools-reader-experiences/ Tara Thorpe, Labour’s VAT raid: ‘I already work two jobs and cannot fathom a third’. From homeschooling to moving abroad, here’s how Telegraph readers will be affected by Labour’s planned VAT raid on private schools. 11/06/24

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/labours-plans-to-rewrite-the-national-curriculum/ Toby Young, Labour’s plans to rewrite the National Curriculum. 01/06/24

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