Eighty years on, college is still living the dream

Published on Tuesday 2 June 2009 21:37

EIGHTY years ago, a man, generations ahead of his time, had a vision of a future yet to be realised. Basil Paterson imagined classes of a just a handful of pupils, one-to-one tuition and a personalised education.

Today it is a dream teachers, politicians and local authorities are still battling to achieve. On his side, Mr Paterson, did not have the large numbers of pupils the state sector has to deal with, but his "experiment" proved the success of the policy long before modern campaigners were even born.

In 1929, after serving his time in the army and graduating from Edinburgh University with a degree in science and natural philosophy, the former George Watson's College pupil set up his eponymous school while still in his twenties.

Basil Paterson Tutorial College was meant to offer something different, and it still does to this day.

Inside the low-key entrance on Edinburgh's Queen Street, the first clue this isn't your average school is a poster on the notice board, exhorting students to speak English. That is because the greater part of the college's work today is taken up by an English language school.

But the tutorial aspect of the school is still a key part of its provision. Crucially this forms a tiny school, which is effectively a very small sixth-form college.

It usually has between 30 and 40 students aged at least 16, and will not accept younger, but it does not have an upper age limit meaning it can provide a second chance service for those who want to pursue a career U-turn.

Catriona Elder is academic adviser, effectively the head of the tutorial section of the college. She says: "We have a girl this year who is 23 who decided to come back and do A-levels because she has decided to go back to university to become a vet."

Flexibility is a key draw to the college, which does little advertising and has little need to, with a steady cohort of mostly Scottish teenagers, although this year's group includes two Chinese students, one from Russia, a German and one from Saudi Arabia.

As she shows me round the small classrooms which are more like basic hotel meeting rooms, Ms Elder explains the background of many of those who enrol: "It is mostly students who had some sort of disruption," she says. "Some have failed their exams or been ill or mucked about in the past and decided they now want qualifications. They get to the stage where their peers are going off to university and they want to go too. Some of them just out-grow school with its uniforms and rules."

Despite its low profile, the tutorial college never has to go looking for students and does not conduct recruitment drives. The brochure says every day is an open day and urges parents to visit at their convenience.

"People find us, just word of mouth mainly, particularly in Edinburgh, and in the boarding schools and so on," Ms Elder explains. "We don't put ourselves in competition with the schools."

Despite close links with boarding schools who will sometimes suggest to their own pupils that Basil Paterson might be a good option for them, the college isn't a boarding school. Most students stay at home with parents and a few rent properties in the city.

For students, it creates a more adult experience of education compared to school, yet offers more support than further education colleges which also offer Highers, and is a transition between school and university.

"Students really like it," Ms Elder says. "They come in and find carpets and wallpaper and feel it is just a bit more of an adult environment. Particularly if they have been in the same school since primary one and want to be somewhere a little more grown-up.

"We still have reports and parents' evenings, but if a student is struggling we will speak to the parents."

A big draw for Basil Paterson is the almost one-to-one tuition on offer. No class has more than six students and some have just one. This year, there are just two in the Higher chemistry class, four in Higher biology, one taking Advanced Higher chemistry and two Advanced biology.

"It is a draw," says Ms Elder, "because we offer so much individual attention and we know all the students. We can keep track of them. We are in touch with parents a lot."

There is, however, a price to be paid, both literally and metaphorically. Most subjects can be offered through a large database of teachers the school holds, but some, such as home economics, cannot, simply through a lack of facilities. And fees are substantial: parents are charged per qualification, which varies from 3,216 for an Intermediate grade to 5,735 for Advanced Higher or A-level.

Given the different requirements of its pupils from year to year, the school does not actually employ any teachers full-time, but has a database of teachers who it can call on, depending on who enrolls each year and what subjects they want to take.

Ms Elder says: "They are a real mix. Some are retired teachers, some retired early, some are just looking for something a bit different. Some of those on the database teach part-time at the university and have spare time to teach pupils. Some are newly qualified and didn't want to go into mainstream schooling. Science and business subjects can be a bit more difficult but it is not something we have a huge problem with."

Despite taking on only a small number of pupils, the school has no problem with over-subscription, and there isn't a waiting list.

Basil Paterson has an 84 per cent pass rate at Higher level, comparing favourably with the 73 per cent national rate for state schools. The college is also rare in that it offers exams to external candidates who can come in and sit Higher or A-level papers without having been enrolled in the school.

This year, Basil Paterson celebrates 80 years since it was created and the school is keen to research its mysterious founder and history further. In 1997 it was taken over by a group called the Oxford Intensive Schools of English, which in the main owns English language schools. Prior to that the details of the past have been little documented.

"For the first 10 years or so it seems to have been young people going into the police, army and university," says Ms Elder. "It was always about being in small classes and individual attention."

The school has been in several locations in Edinburgh, from Rutland Square to Abercromby Place, but it currently occupies two adjacent properties on Queen Street.

In the 1950s, it began a translation service which expanded into an English language school in 1963. Basil, by then director of the institution, died in 1967 and the school was then led by an Edward Paterson. No-one is 100 per cent sure he is a relation to the founder, though it seems likely.

"Quite a lot of teachers have been here for years, so it's just putting it together," says Ms Elder. Once the full history is documented, it will serve as a testament to the vision of one man and his dream for education.