THE SNP's complete failure to listen to teachers and headteachers will result in more upheaval and change in the education system to absolutely no avail. It is not the governance system which is the problem; the existence of a regional board, as opposed to a local authority, will make no difference whatsoever as to how well a child learns to read or how well a pupil can factorise a quadratic expression.
The cause of Scotland's slide down the education international rankings is threefold, and directly attributable to misguided SNP policies.
The Curriculum for Excellence is seriously overcrowded in the primary sector, lacks both rigour and standards, and creates anomalies such as having to squeeze 160-hour courses into 90 hours in the secondary sector. The prescribed teaching method, the so called “active learning” which is neither active nor instructive, has been shown to be ineffective. And the Scottish Qualifications Authority has dug a giant hole for itself in the form of endless “learning outcomes”, or tests as most sane people would say, and simply refuses to come out of it. The consequent waste of time impacts hugely on learning.
New powers to head teachers, which many of them consider to be yet another distraction from their main job of promoting learning, do not fix the curriculum, alter the teaching methods or get the examination system back on track.
This Government seems determined to disadvantage Scottish schoolchildren and young people rather than admit their 10 years of educational folly, and get back to the drawing board.
Carole Ford,
Former president, School Leaders Scotland,
132 Terregles Avenue, Glasgow.
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