Readers' Letters: Scotland never had a 'world-leading' education system

Liam Kerr, education spokesman for the Scottish Conservatives, says Scotland had a “world-leading” education system. I am much older than he is but do not know when that was the case and what criteria he uses to justify this opinion.

A group of boys watch a woodwork teacher planing a length of wood at the Queen Victoria School, Dunblane, Perthshire in 1931 (Picture: Fox Photos/Getty Images)

I spent 13 years as a pupil in Scottish schools, six of them in a selective academy. My schooling did little to prepare me for “real life”. Teachers had scant experience beyond school. Few had ever done anything else. They spoke only of their subjects and did not encourage questions. Authoritarianism prevailed. We did not learn to think, critically or creatively, and knew nothing of biology, geology, politics, economics, sociology, psychology or philosophy. I never heard of Galileo, Hutton, Hume, Darwin, evolution or the Scottish Enlightenment. Boys were not taught to cook or type. There was no “personal and social education”, “guidance teachers” or careers advice. Each day started with a religious assembly which was a waste of time. I was bored, insecure, shy and lacking in “social skills”. Emotions were never discussed.

There was a kind of political indoctrination in that we learned nothing of the Highland clearances, the Irish and Indian famines and uprisings, or treatment of native peoples. We were expected to revere the Empire and be proud of being British. Residents of Canada, Australia and New Zealand were referred to as "Colonials".

However, by swotting before exams I gained five highers and later an MA. There were then few jobs available so I became a teacher. The training was near useless so I just copied my own teachers. I taught in England for some years but the only differences from Scotland I found were in the terminology and the use of the cane rather than the strap.

I lived in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Indonesia and visited about 80 other countries on six continents. Nowhere did I hear any reference to Scottish education. I doubt anyone knew it was different from the English version. Only in Scotland have I heard anyone make the kind of claim Mr Kerr does. It is as much a myth as is Braveheart. Scotland no more “led the world” in education than it did in ballet, baseball or gourmet cookery.

I don’t believe education is best judged by exam results and think that in Scotland it is far better than ever before. Teachers are much more capable, broad-minded, inventive and approachable. The proportion of pupils entering universities is ten times what it was in my time.

Alan Mathieson, Glasgow

Low marks

It was disappointing to hear Humza Yousaf say he will make no apologies for the state of education in Scotland. Presumably he is pleased with the future prospects of our young, despite figures – over many years – that show a steady decline in standards.

Education is not the only area where the SNP seem to take pride in ignoring evidence that highlights failure, but it is a crucial one. Even his predecessor recognised this when she proudly stated “judge me on education”. The bulk of the public and the teaching profession have judged them, but are completely ignored. Even the poorest of schoolkids (of which we will have plenty if nothing is done) could achieve a glowing report if they were allowed to mark their own homework.

At the very heart of the problem is the Curriculum for Excellence. Anything that has to term itself "excellence” should have been viewed with suspicion from Day One.

Ken Currie, Edinburgh

Staff problems

The recent Pisa report is uncomfortable reading. I think part of the problem is that there simply are not the levels of support from which I benefited from as a young teacher.

So what should be done? The Scottish Government should reintroduce a national staffing standard and remove the present inconsistencies between local education authorities (LEAs).

When I started teaching in the early 1970s there was such a standard contained in what was known as The Red Book, prepared by the then Her Majesty's Inspectors. This established a national minimum standard for secondary schools based on the Pupil Teacher Ratio. There were then calculations for each school to establish additional staffing entitlements for, say, the number of probationer teachers. These elements were added to the basic complement and this gave the school’s final staffing that was funded nationally. It was open to individual LEAs to fund additional staff if they so wished. A new Red Book could now be prepared with entitlements for, for example, deprivation. The lack of guaranteed, dedicated staff supporting pupils with learning difficulties today is putting schools under considerable pressure.

The restructuring of promoted posts in secondary schools has seen Principal Teachers, the key subject specialists, replaced by Faculty Heads. It is quite clear that this restructuring was for financial savings; it certainly was not as a consequence of an analysis of the relative educational merits of the respective posts. We now have Faculty Heads with responsibility for a group of subject departments – for the members of these departments, the quality of teaching, curriculum, staff development needs, discipline, pupil welfare, parental links, assessment, required resources, internal and external SQA exam requirements. The Faculty Heads may only be qualified to teach one of the subjects for which they are responsible. This has meant a loss of crucial subject expertise and experience.

In addition, the Principal Teachers, as key middle managers, played an absolutely vital part in the effective running of the school. I know from experience the value of their advice, support and guidance. I feel strongly that the loss of these posts cannot be helping the academic performance, nor the discipline of, Scotland’s secondary schools. Furthermore, the marked reduction in promoted posts seriously restricts career development and must be a disincentive for recruitment.

Eric Melvin, Edinburgh

Thatcher’s impact

Perhaps Marjorie Ellis Thompson (Letters, 8 December) should do some proper research into the roles of the trades unions that decimated UK nationalised industries by a long series of carefully planned and orchestrated strikes, leading the Government to produce a strategy to privatise much UK industries and public services to prevent any further economic impact by union bosses.

Older readers, like myself, will remember the dark days of the 1970s when there was no power, no trains and not much being done in shipbuilding, motor building or coalmining to supply our power stations. Ms Ellis-Thompson's letter betrays a very one-sided view of history.

As for Thatcher’s impact on global affairs, she had a relationship with Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan that was entirely helpful to the democratisation of the former USSR, among other changes in global governance practices.

Derek Farmer, Anstruther, Fife

It’s a crime

Police Scotland is to offer voluntary redundancies to officers in a bid to save funds (your report, 6 December).

The Force has warned that without an additional £128 million, officer numbers could drop by almost 1,500. It did not take long from the creation of Police Scotland by then Justice Minister Kenny MacAskill in 2013 for the service to experience decline, and far from being established to save money and provide an enhanced level of service to “the people of Scotland”, the opposite has been the calamitous case.

I imagine those requesting voluntary redundancy will be more experienced officers, meaning an even less efficient police force, which Scotland cannot condone. I imagine former officers of the original eight forces must look on in horror at what has happened to policing, and the public has borne the brunt of it.

Surely it is time for the most fervent of nationalist supporter to admit that it is game-over for this utterly failed ideology.

Douglas Cowe, Kingseat, Aberdeenshire

NicolAI Sturgeon?

Regarding Nicola Sturgeon’s memory problems, as emphasised by William Ballantine (Letters, 8 December), may I suggest a solution. Just let AI write the book for her, warts and all. This version of a political life would likely be no more or less unbelievable than the one she is struggling to recount and would have the added advantage of being oven ready for publication within hours rather than months, thus ensuring the riveting tale is in the shops well before her reputation fades into obscurity, which seems to be her major concern. It could be this year’s Scottish Christmas book!

S R Wild, Edinburgh

Napoleon’s surgeon

Alex Orr (Letters, 6 December) wrote an interesting letter about a Scottish doctor who attended Napoleon in St Helena during his terminal illness. Another Scottish doctor who might be considered in this context is John Stokoe (1775-1852), ship's surgeon on HMS Conqueror which was based on St Helena from 1817-19. He established a warm relationship with Napoleon which incensed the governor of the island, Sir Hudson Lowe.

As a result Stokoe was court martialled and discharged from the navy with a reduced pension. Joseph Bonaparte, the Emperor's elder brother, was so upset by this injustice that he supplemented Stokoe's pension and engaged him to escort his three daughters from Rome to Philadelphia where he now lived.

Stokoe retired to Edinburgh where he lived at 42 Lothian Street.

John Chalmers, Edinburgh

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