School daze

It is very encouraging to hear the Cabinet Secretary for Education saying that he wants to see an end to the one-size-fits-all provision of state education and adopt a more diverse model (your report, 5 April).

The question is: will he be able to persuade his boss Alex Salmond, and his SNP colleagues, to do the same and support ending the state monopoly of educational provision?

Let's assume that Mike Russell is serious and that he really will try to push the First Minister all the way to do something radical with Scottish schools.

No doubt these are some of the reasons which prompted the Cabinet Secretary to visit Sweden and Finland – countries which the Scottish Conservatives have long believed have much to offer when it comes to improving standards.

Along with countries such as the Netherlands and Denmark and states such as Alberta in Canada, these nations have broken up the state monopoly of school provision.

In relation to most educational attainment indicators they have outperformed Scotland for the past two decades, producing higher standards not only in the new schools which have been set up, but, just as importantly, in the existing ones as well.

ELIZABETH SMITH MSP

Scottish Conservatives – Children, Schools & Skills