Hugh Reilly: Man-up, Mr Russell, or you’ll fail exams

Published on Tuesday 14 February 2012 12:40

TODAY, my squeeze will be sitting behind her front door, pining for the postman to drop my Valentine card through the letterbox. Sadly, she will be disappointed.

I have taken the unilateral decision to postpone St Valentine’s Day for one year to give myself adequate time to prepare a personalised card that fully encapsulates my love.

If deferring the sending of a love-sick greeting card incites a somewhat negative reaction, I will tell her to man-up and take a leaf from Mike Russell, the education minister, who cheerfully accepted East Renfrewshire council’s decision to delay implementation of the new National qualifications. I’m sure she’ll see the bigger picture.

Following concerns voiced by the EIS, Mr Russell made it clear that no other local authority will be permitted to procrastinate over the introduction of the new Curriculum for Excellence examinations. The minister is paying the pied piper to lead Scottish children through a forest of new qualifications but already the kids of the country’s most successful council are lagging behind, waiting to see what happens before dancing to the government’s tune.

The cabinet minister’s decision to allow East Renfrewshire to effectively opt out of implementation is mystifying. By creating a loophole whereby a school can delay introducing the new qualifications by one year if kids are sitting Intermediate examinations, it means that there will not be uniform enactment of this latest initiative. How bizarre.

In my opinion, Mike Russell should have shown some gumption and demanded that the maverick council desist from damaging the new exam structure. In any fight with the renegade council he could have counted on “handers” (honners, if you are a Glaswegian) from every corner of the education system.

Education Scotland head honcho, wild Bill Maxwell, wrote a letter to John Wilson, director of education at East Renfrewshire, warning him that the authority’s stance risked undermining (any?) public confidence in the new scheme. The tone of the pithy missive suggested that a handshake might be problematic the next time they meet. East Ren’s education Julius Caesar should consider wearing a stab-proof toga the next time he shares a forum with School Leaders Scotland (SLS), the body which represents headteachers. SLS has publicly slated the directorate’s decision as making a “nonsense” of the reform.

And in a case of “Et tu, SPTC?” Eileen Prior of the Scottish Parent Teacher Council found it hard to understand how “an entire local authority can be viewed as an exceptional circumstance”.

The EIS claim that failure to delay is fraught with danger. To allay such fears, the minister has hinted at allocating extra resources to schools and departments who ask for assistance, although he does state that, to date, no establishment has sought such support. Mike Russell is making a big mistake if he believes silence means that all is well.

In my experience, teachers are reluctant to challenge the education narrative lest it impairs their career prospects. Would you like to be the first dominie who stands up and says defiantly: “I haven’t a Scooby!?”

When Higher Still was introduced, the intention was for Higher Modern Studies candidates to sit 11 NABS (internal assessments). At an in-service meeting, I said that this was impractical. Unsurprisingly, the messenger was machine-gunned by those casting admiring glances at the Emperor’s new pret a porter collection. I must admit I felt a tad vindicated when, by the time I retired in 2011, the Higher exam had only three NABs.

Delays and postponements surrounding the Curriculum for Excellence have made the Edinburgh trams fiasco look like a engineering project organised by a team reporting directly to Josef Stalin. At critical junctures, teachers, it seems, have found reasons not to be cheerful. To me, this suggests that, despite what the EIS leadership may say, classroom staff have yet to fully embrace the changes to teaching and learning.

Chalkies dislike the wooliness of CfE and are clinging on to traditional teaching styles, like a drunken man desperately holding on to a lamppost, fearful of taking his next step or, worse, a dog with a full bladder coming round the corner.

The waiting game for the new National examinations is over.

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Sawney Has-Been

Thursday, February 16, 2012 at 06:55 AM

@jakebrother..the answer is 'YES'. We are being made to start teaching A3N4N5 in August 2012. repeat - THIS AUGUST - as our Authority are staying with the 2+2+2 model.

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jakebrother

Wednesday, February 15, 2012 at 09:53 AM

@ Angus lass The guidelines have been produced, the release date has not yet occurred. That is set by the Government, the SQA are simply following their instructions. @ Sawney Has-Been Why do you only have 8 working weeks to produce courses that don't start until August 2013? Are you planning to start a year early? If so, you should give East Ren a call, thy could do with you to catch up!........... This change is happening whether educators or parents like it or not, dragging heels or pontificating will only harm one group - pupils. It won't be the only chamges over the next decade either, as the whole UK moves towards the successful German model of specialised academic and vocational education, rather than a mish-mashed combination that doesn't deliver either to full potential.

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Angus lass

Wednesday, February 15, 2012 at 07:50 AM

Teachers want a dely because the guidlines for the news exams have not been produced by the SQA National 4 is a mystery National 5 has just been 'cascaded' Up to now it has been guesswork

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Sawney Has-Been

Wednesday, February 15, 2012 at 07:08 AM

Douglas - because at secondary level, the final arrangements don't come out until April this year! This leaves 8 working weeks to write 3 new 2 year courses!

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I AM THE OPERATOR OF A POCKET CALCULATOR

Tuesday, February 14, 2012 at 08:43 AM

Could it be that the teachers unions are hotbeds of Labour dogma and middle classness and they are dragging their heels to create trouble for the sake of making political capital?Nawwww teachers would never do such things......

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douglas-home rule

Tuesday, February 14, 2012 at 08:03 AM

The change-over to the new curriculem has been ongoing for years. Are teachers thick-- . Why do they need yet another year???

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buzzer

Tuesday, February 14, 2012 at 01:26 AM

who the hell is Hugh Reilly

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