Schools urged to scrap ‘bog standard’ education model

MEMBERS of a think tank have risked the ire of Scotland’s teachers after urging schools to abandon what they called the “bog standard” model of education.

The Commission on School Reform, an inquiry group set up by think tank Reform Scotland, said it hoped schools could move away from the “old template mentality”.

The commission, which is chaired by Keir Bloomer, a former president of the Association of Directors of Education, said it hoped to publish an interim report in the spring.

Ross Martin, an advisor to the commission, said it would benefit pupils if schools were encouraged to do what they thought would best meet the needs of children in their catchment area. He said: “The key aspect for the commission is to identify where innovation is already happening.”

Mr Martin said they wanted to find out “where we’ve moved away from that old template mentality of the bog standard comprehensive”.

But education secretary Mike Russell said schools were already benefiting from new freedoms under Curriculum for Excellence.

He said: “I don’t think we have bog standard schools in Scotland. We have some schools that aren’t performing as well as they should and aren’t ambitious enough. But Curriculum for Excellence has made an enormous difference to Scotland’s schools and we have very good teachers, very good headteachers, very good schools that are delivering lots of different things.”

Ann Ballinger, general secretary of the Scottish Secondary Teachers’ Association, added: “I find it shocking that anyone can make this kind of comment about all of the schools in Scotland without having the evidence to support it, without taking into account the enormous hard work that people across the country do to educate our young.

“I don’t just mean teachers there. I mean support staff and parents. We all work exceptionally hard and the last thing we need is someone sniping from the sidelines.”