Old methods may serve pupils better

I SEE that Scottish teachers are coming in for their ritual hammering (“Teachers told: Get back to the 3 Rs”, 24 March).

As usual, all the deficiencies in our education system are down to the teachers, and not a word is said in Chris Marshall’s article about the serious problem of disaffected youngsters and classroom disruption, which make the teacher’s job harder than ever before – especially as any effective sanction for such behaviour is lacking. Modern kids are savvy enough to realise that the old injunction to “stick in at school” in order to better yourself is meaningless in an age when PhD graduates are stacking super- market shelves.

I am not a teacher, but in my dealings with teachers and schools I have formed the definite impression that today’s teachers are better qualified and more dedicated to the job than any previous generation.

Let me give a bit of perspective, as a 60-something individual whose schooling was in the 1950s and 1960s. My secondary school operated a rigid hierarchy of “A” classes (with Latin and French) for the pupils who had passed the Qualifying exam at the end of primary school, and “B”, “C” (girls only), “D” and “E” classes for what now would be called the “less able” pupils, although a more disparaging term was used in those days. Bottom of the pile were the “PR” classes, which some wags insisted meant “Past Redemption”.

The boys in these classes did gardening and would knock on classroom doors with vegetables to sell. In common with kids in the other non-academic classes, they normally left school at 15 without a single scrap of paper detailing their attainments after ten years of compulsory schooling. And nobody criticised the teachers for not sending them out into the world with a brace of Highers each. Happy days?

HARRY D WATSON

Braehead Grove

Edinburgh

Scottish education has made huge leaps forward in content, processes and methodologies in the past decade.

However, one factor is being consistently overlooked: how pupils are learning. On the run-up to SQA exams, teachers and parents across the country wring their hands over lack of learning, particularly among boys, who seem to think that cramming just before their exams will ensure success.

The Dunfermline school in which I teach has developed a whole school programme, “Learn to Learn”, to support pupils and help them take ownership of their learning. It investigates thinking and learning styles and applies them to learning through our own 3Rs: review, remember, recall. The recall stage results in the contextual application of learning, which will raise attainment. Splitting learning into stages makes it easier for pupils and parents to understand and target strengths and weaknesses.

The programme is developing “reflective thinking”, which supports class work, study and develops more inquiring, creative minds.

I believe it is time that there should be a national school focus for skilling our young people in learning and helping their parents to support them in this.

SHONA COCHRANE

Beveridge Road

Kirkcaldy, Fife

For years, universities and employers have lamented the lack of basic numeracy and literacy skills in school-leavers, with politicians turning a blind eye to their pleas. Now the clock is to be turned back with an emphasis on teaching the three “Rs”.

However, a generation has lost out as the respected and long-standing building blocks were rejected in favour of passing fads.

BOB MACDOUGALL

Oxhill

Kippen, Stirlingshire