SNP must take responsibility over learning

As a parent participant of the Educational Institute of Scotland rally at Kelvingrove Park in Glasgow on Saturday 6 March, I was a little mystified to note the presence of some SNP activists. They had posters blaming Westminister for Scottish education cuts. This seems given that Mike Russell says the Scottish Government has given local councils an uplift of 2.5 per cent and that therefore there should not be a problem for education.

He says the concordat places the responsibility for education at the door of local councils.

Our local council (Edinburgh City Council) is an SNP/Lib Dem coalition and this year it cut 1 per cent from the frontline education budget with a promise of further, greater cuts to come. In this uncomfortable arrangement, the Lib Dems blame the Scottish Government and the SNP remain strangely silent. The word on the street locally is that the SNP remain quiet because they like being in power.

I am not against independence, but what I think is clear to many Scots (including patriotic ones such as I) is that any party leading us into such an arrangement must demonstrate responsibility and accountability. Independence would lead us into new territory, and as such we would need to have absolute trust in the competence and integrity of those who would lead us there.

For many, education is the bedrock of the Scottish character, and for many centuries now this has allowed us, as a country, to punch above our weight. Our economic future depends on what we invest in our education system and our children now.

DR MARTIN WILLIAMS

Parkgrove Drive

Edinburgh

Your report on councils being forced to raise class sizes (5 March), juxtaposed with images of Jim Murphy reading a story to children at Holy Cross Primary School in Glasgow, reminded me of when I attended the school in 1945-1949. The class size was 45, under the tutelage of Miss Kennedy, before class-room assistants existed.

From our class, 20 per cent went on to higher education (an excellent achievement for that sort of primary school, especially in those days), one became a Papal Knight, and Baroness Helena Kennedy took her early steps to fame. Class sizes are one factor in educational achievement, but perhaps it is what goes on inside the classroom that matters more. I suspect Miss Kennedy's expectations of high standards of behaviour and achievement did as much, if not more, for her 45 pupils than today's equivalents with their mere 18, 25 or 30 pupils per class.

Certainly the SNP should be castigated for their failed election pledge of 18 or 25 and for their ridiculous blaming of the Westminster Government for this clearly devolved matter. However, the correct education debate should widen beyond numbers and buildings and concentrate primarily on what goes on inside the classroom.

TOM DOLAN

Brochroy Croft

Taynuilt, Argyll