Miles Briggs MSP is the Scottish Conservative shadow education secretary
Scottish education was once a byword for excellence.
A springboard for levels of achievement that enabled a relatively small country to punch well above its weight. The Scottish Enlightenment was a seismic intellectual movement that literally changed the world.
Scotland’s contributions to fields as diverse as economics, science, engineering, medicine and letters have been immense. In invention and engineering, it sometimes seems easier to list things not first created by Scots.
The Scottish education system has produced people responsible for hugely varied and colossal achievements, from Adam Smith to Alexander Fleming, and from James Watt to Walter Scott.
It was also, by historical standards, remarkably open, providing opportunity for those from all backgrounds. Well before 1600, Scotland had four universities to England’s two and in the 17th Century, it was decided that every single parish should have its own school.
As a result, Scottish education offered a passport for betterment to everyone. The list of great historical Scots is notable for the huge range of backgrounds from which they sprang.
The pride we were once able to take in that record makes today’s reality all the more depressing.
In the quarter of a century since devolution, first under Labour and now the SNP, Scottish schooling has declined. Despite dedicated teachers, a series of poor policy decisions has seen standards plummet. Attainment in science and maths are at a record low and we’re ranked no better than average in international league tables, overtaken by countries including England, Ireland, Belgium and Estonia.
Recent data shows that a quarter of 11-year-olds in Scotland cannot read, write or count properly.
Most shaming of all, the attainment gap between the most and least deprived children – which the SNP promised to eradicate – is actually widening. It is extraordinary, and disgraceful, that almost 1 in 7 Scottish pupils leave school without a single qualification.
The need for change is necessary and urgent.
None of the other parties, who make up a cozy left-wing consensus at Holyrood, have shown any ambition to overhaul Scottish education. The Scottish Conservatives have set out ambitious proposals to stop the rot. It starts with the basics; previous levels of excellence in literacy, numeracy and essential skills for life must be the norm once again.
Every child should be not just equipped but given a first-rate start.
Under Russell Findlay’s leadership, we’ve also proposed a bold idea to transform opportunities for young people who are being left behind. For decades, Scotland’s minimum school leaving age has been 16. The consensus, including within the Conservative Party, has long been that this should be either retained or increased.
This was made with good intentions; to benefit children by requiring them to knuckle down and learn. Unquestionably the right goal — but has it been the right approach?
We want to investigate whether, instead of raising the school leaving age, we should explore doing the opposite.
That may seem counterintuitive, but there’s emerging evidence to support our idea.
A recent study of four European countries found no evidence to link the raising of the school leaving age with better outcomes for pupils. A lower leaving age can be combined with valuable real-world skills. With mentorships, internships, and opportunities to put learning into practice. In South Korea, for example, students can leave school at the age of 15 to attend specialist schools to prepare them for high-skilled trades. In Germany and Austria, 15-year-olds can combine education with vocational training.
There were immediate, and predictable objections, from opponents who want to characterise this idea as “Victorian” – as if we were proposing stuffing children up chimneys – or those who scoffed at the idea of those under 16 working on building sites.
We’re not advocating anything of the sort.
We’re talking about students who might benefit from accelerated apprenticeships and technical training that would give them a head start, rather than forcing them to persist with subjects for which they have no enthusiasm.
As Colleges Scotland has said tens of thousands of school pupils are already engaged with their local college through either a school-college partnership or a Foundation Apprenticeship, where they can experience learning at college. What Scottish Conservatives propose is to take this to the next step and allow young people to take up a full-time apprenticeship or college place.
Some of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs and business people had a very different reaction to this suggestion. They warmly welcomed it as an idea worth exploring. One that, far from writing children off, would help them to develop their full potential.
Charlie Mullins, the multi-millionaire founder of Pimlico Plumbers, described this as “the best policy I’ve heard to kickstart apprenticeships in probably the last 50 years”.
The engineering tycoon Jim McColl, who has direct experience of having set up a college for disengaged pupils in Glasgow, says it’s a “brilliant move”. It also attracted praise from the Labour peer Lord Haughey, who made his fortune in the refrigeration business.
Any businessperson will tell you about their frustration in finding employees with the right skills.
This shrivels the economy and reduces tax revenues, resulting in less money for public services.
And, at the same time, too many young people become trapped in a system that isn’t working for them. Or worse, exit from it altogether.
At the moment, too many young people are often consigned to a life-shortening life of poverty, reliant on state benefits.
Some become targeted for recruitment into the destructive misery of organised crime, often coupled with addiction. We need to be honest that for many in Scotland today, school isn’t working.
But it’s the existing system, not these proposals, which is writing those young people off.
The Scottish Conservatives are investigating the best way to give young people an opportunity to continue in hybrid education better suited to their talents.
We’ll make literacy and numeracy fundamental – because they are in every walk of life. We’ll ensure that any student leaving school before the age of 16 would still be required to stay in education.
But it would be a form of education that works for them. That might be college, an apprenticeship, or take some other form. The whole point of raising these proposals is to develop solutions that work in the best interests of pupils.
For Scotland’s economy, it would mean more skilled workers to help businesses grow. A stronger workforce to attract overseas investors. And fewer skills gaps which feed an unsustainable reliance on immigration.
By working hand-in-hand with businesses, we could make Scotland’s economy fit for the future.
Even more important, however, is the fact that we would be transforming the lives and opportunities of young people who are currently being let down by policy failures, and politicians who will not take the bold action required.
The Scottish Conservatives are the only party at Holyrood with plans to overhaul Scottish education. We’re offering a common-sense agenda to change Scotland’s schools for the better and let every pupil reach their full potential.
conservativehome.com (Article Sourced Website)
#Miles #Briggs #source #pride #national #embarrassment #Conservatives #save #Scottish #education #Conservative #Home