Scotland's schools stuck in Victorian age, claims billionaire

Sir Tom Hunter, who has pledged to plough much of his fortune into learning, also accused the government of dragging its heels in implementing the much-vaunted Curriculum For Excellence.

Scotland's first home-grown billionaire warned headteachers that "a new enlightenment" was needed – and suggested education should be freed from political leadership.

In a week when his charitable trust is to announce an "elitist scheme" for gifted teenagers, Sir Tom called for an overhaul of Scotland's education in a bid to reverse the numbers of children leaving school unable to read or write.

He said: "The plain fact is our system is not that dissimilar to the one we developed in the Victorian era. Can that really be right for a modern nation where most of our young people are likely to experience maybe four, five or even more jobs in their lifetimes, in a world where the internet and air traffic has shrunk our planet so wildly it could not have been conceived of when our education system was designed?"

The Hunter Foundation is to launch the elitist programme today, which offers a "bridge year" to Scotland's brightest 16-19-year-olds.

In a paper to headteachers, seen by The Scotsman, Sir Tom said he was doing it because "our system of education – public or private – doesn't deliver for them. Where are our next generation of leaders to come from?".

David Eaglesham, the general-secretary for the SSTA teaching union, agreed there was concern among the profession about the delays in implementing the Curriculum for Excellence.

But he said that while pupils were still taught in a classroom environment as they were in the Victorian era, that was the only similarity between then and now.

"If that was the case, we would not be educating girls," he said. "We would only really be looking at educating the very top stream and the rest would be cannon fodder for industry."

He said it was difficult to produce the right specialist support for elite students as their needs could be very different, depending on their talent. However, teachers "always need to be on the lookout for gifted children" as well as working with struggling pupils.

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said Curriculum for Excellence was being trialled over the current academic session and would be phased in over the next.

UNIVERSITIES RULE OUT FEES

CRISIS talks on funding for higher education have seen university leaders rule out imposing tuition fees.

During the 24-hour talks with education secretary, Fiona Hyslop, academics instead demanded government funding.

The joint future thinking task force was set up to tackle the funding shortfall for higher education after a poor budget settlement.

The Scotsman has learned, despite indications some academics were prepared to support introducing fees, the idea was ruled out.

A spokesman for Universities Scotland said: "We think there is the basis for a very strong case for funding universities from the public purse. Top-up fees were not, and will not, be discussed."