Latest news with #ChildrenandYoungPeopleCommittee
The Herald Scotland
21 hours ago
- Politics
- The Herald Scotland
Scotland's Schrödinger's Schools – both succeeding and failing?
Ms Duncan-Glancy said that the proportion of school leavers in positive destinations has gone down, that more pupils than ever before are leaving school without qualifications, that fewer are leaving having secured at least one qualification at levels five and six (the latter of which includes Highers), that the attainment gap in relation to passing those qualifications has increased, that the number of Modern Apprenticeship starts has declined, and that youth unemployment has increased. Earlier this week in the Scottish Parliament, two politicians clashed over the state of Scottish education. During a meeting of the Education, Children and Young People Committee, Labour's Pam Duncan-Glancy asserted that things are getting worse for the country's school pupils, asking education secretary Jenny Gilruth to explain why education is 'declining' and opportunities 'narrowing.' Ms Gilruth, as you would expect, rejected this framing and claimed that we are in fact seeing progress and improvement across the system. Lessons to Learn | Did the Scottish Government mislead me or are they just incompetent? It's not like there's a shortage of available information: the 'school education statistics' of the Scottish Government's website has more than twenty different datasets covering areas like school leaver destinations, literacy and numeracy levels, teacher numbers, pupil exclusions, the state of school buildings, parental engagement and much more. But that's easily solved, right? If we just stick to the facts then we'll be able to figure exactly what's going on, won't we? And with an election not too far away, it'll only get worse. Sometimes these distinctions are strictly political. It suits the Scottish Government , and supporters of the SNP , to believe that things are good and getting better, just as it suits opposition parties and their backers to tell you that the opposite is true. Education is inherently political, but the way in which education is treated within Scotland's awful, insular, and claustrophobic political culture, with it all-too-often reduced to petty point-scoring by politicians, is a significant problem. Depending on who you listen to, the Scottish education system can be a huge and ever-improving success, a catastrophic failure in continuous decline, and pretty much everything else in between. It all sounds pretty damning. But Ms Gilruth responded that more pupils than ever are reaching expected levels in literacy and numeracy, that the attainment gap for literacy has fallen to the lowest level recorded, that this is also true for secondary school numeracy, that the percentage of leavers going to positive destinations is at the second-highest level on record, and that we have seen improvements in exam results during the post-pandemic period. And here's the thing: almost all of those claims are demonstrably true, as shown by our fact-check article on the matter – in fact, the only egregiously incorrect assertion was the one about exam results, which is definitely not correct. This would appear to suggest that, at least according to the cited statistics, both Pam Duncan-Glancy and Jenny Gilruth are mostly correct: things are getting worse, and they're also getting better. Scotland has apparently managed to build Schrödinger's Schools, which are both succeeding and failing at exactly the same time. This mess is partly explained by the fact that too much of our information is of limited use, and some is effectively meaningless, which leaves us constantly operating in a frustrating fog. To make matters worse, most politicians and commentators clearly aren't able (or willing) to properly understand what that data is even supposed to be showing them, because they've never managed (or in some cases even tried) to wrap their heads around the nuances that underpin it. But beyond all of that, the exchange between Ms Gilruth and Ms Duncan-Glancy was a stark reminder that cherry-picking statistics in the service of a political back-and-forth is a huge waste of everyone's time that makes it near impossible to have proper, grown-up conversations about a matter of the utmost importance. Sign up for a weekly expert insight into Scottish education. If side A wants to be able to 'prove' that things are going wrong then they won't have any trouble finding a few bits of information to back that up, and when side B wants to 'prove' the exact opposite, that won't be a problem for them either. They'll very often even be able to use the exact same spreadsheets to do it, either by concentrating on a different section to the one their opponent is looking at, or sometimes just by choosing a different detail from the very same page. That suits politicians, researchers, speech writers, press officers, special advisers and more than a few columnists just fine, because it keeps them all looking busy without actually having to do much serious work.
The National
2 days ago
- Politics
- The National
Douglas Ross panned for chairing Holyrood meeting from Caribbean
On Wednesday morning, Ross plugged in to the Education, Children and Young People Committee from the Turks and Caicos islands, a British overseas territory where he is reported to be on Commonwealth Parliamentary Association business. However, LibDem MSP Willie Rennie raised a point of order about Ross's involvement as convener from abroad. READ MORE: These key economic truths show how independent Scotland and Wales can succeed Rennie said: 'I'd like to raise a point of order. I raised this with the convener in the private pre-briefing. 'I don't think it's appropriate, convener, for you to be conducting this meeting from the Caribbean. 'I think it doesn't make you look good and it doesn't make this committee look good, and I would like you once again to reconsider whether this is appropriate. 'I would ask you to hand over the responsibilities to the vice-convener.' The SNP's Karen Dunbar is vice-convener of the Education, Children and Young People Committee. In response to Rennie's request, Ross said he would be happy to take part as a lay-member and allow Dunbar to chair the meeting, at which Education Secretary Jenny Gilruth, Higher Education Minister Graeme Dey, and Minister for Children Natalie Don-Innes were due to give evidence. READ MORE: Seamus Logan: Anas Sarwar's joy quickly sours as reality of UK Labour's record bites Dunbar took advice from parliamentary clerks and said that there was nothing in the rules to prevent a meeting being chaired remotely. 'The rule makes no distinction between virtual or in-person attendance during committee meetings,' she said. 'It is the role of the convenor to chair the committee if they are present, whether in person or virtually.' Dunbar therefore declined to convene the meeting and passed the responsibility back to Ross. Previously, an SNP source briefed the Daily Record about the fact that the former Scottish Tory leader would attend the meeting from the Caribbean. They said: "Throughout his time at Holyrood, Douglas Ross has treated his role as an MSP as a part-time gig to fit around his other jobs – including his various jaunts across Europe as an assistant referee. "This has been a bit of an embarrassing week for Ross after he was removed from the Chamber for his poor behaviour on Thursday. 'After his tirade of unjustified claims about other members' parliamentary attendance it is now somewhat ironic that Mr Ross will be logging in from near the Caribbean."
STV News
28-05-2025
- Politics
- STV News
Committee call for views on ‘controversial' use of restraint in Scottish schools
A Holyrood committee is keen to hear from teachers as they consider legislation which aims to minimise the use of restraint and seclusion in Scotland's schools. Labour MSP Daniel Johnson has brought forward a member's bill which, if passed, would require schools to inform parents if their child has had to be restrained or put into seclusion. The Restrain and Seclusion in Schools (Scotland) Bill would also require schools to report annually on the use of such practices. MSPs on the Education, Children and Young People Committee are to consider the proposals, with convener Douglas Ross saying MSPs want to understand what the implications of such changes could be. PA Media Labour MSP Daniel Johnson has brought forward the Bill, which aims to minimise the use of restraint and seclusion in schools. PA Media The committee has launched a call for people to get in touch with their views, giving until July 11 to respond. Mr Ross said: 'The use of restraint and seclusion has been controversial for many years. 'This Bill aims to minimise the use of restraint and seclusion and we want to understand the implications of adopting this approach on children and young people, parents and professionals. 'The committee is keen to hear from people who have views on the use of restraint and seclusion in schools. 'We're also interested in hearing from teachers, school leaders and specialists to give us a broad perspective of views on the proposals in this Bill.' Get all the latest news from around the country Follow STV News Scan the QR code on your mobile device for all the latest news from around the country
The Independent
03-04-2025
- Business
- The Independent
Union to ballot workers at beleaguered Dundee University on strike action
Workers at a university set to cut around 700 jobs are to be balloted on strike action, a union has announced. Dundee University has been in the grips of a financial crisis in recent months as managers seek to wrestle with a £35 million deficit. The institution announced it would seek to cut 632 full-time equivalent jobs to steady its finances, but told Holyrood's Education, Children and Young People Committee this week the decision would be likely to hit around 700 members of staff. On Thursday, Unite the union announced it would be balloting its members at the university on potential strike action as it sought to halt the threat of compulsory redundancies – which bosses have previously said it would be unlikely they would be able to avoid. 'Unite has no option but to respond to the gross financial mismanagement which has shaken Dundee University to its foundations,' Unite industrial officer Katrina Currie said. 'Under no circumstances will we allow compulsory redundancies to take place because the workers are blameless, and they should not have to pay the price for incompetence.' She added that there must be a Government-backed task force set up to deal with the issue, describing the university financial body the Scottish Funding Council investigation into the cause of the crisis as 'insufficient'. Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: 'Unite will do everything industrially, legally and politically possible to protect the livelihoods of hundreds of workers at Dundee University. 'The situation is in danger of spiralling out of control, with the very existence of the university now at risk without government intervention. 'Unite will support our members every step of the way in defence of their jobs.'
Yahoo
03-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Union to ballot workers at beleaguered Dundee University on strike action
Workers at a university set to cut around 700 jobs are to be balloted on strike action, a union has announced. Dundee University has been in the grips of a financial crisis in recent months as managers seek to wrestle with a £35 million deficit. The institution announced it would seek to cut 632 full-time equivalent jobs to steady its finances, but told Holyrood's Education, Children and Young People Committee this week the decision would be likely to hit around 700 members of staff. On Thursday, Unite the union announced it would be balloting its members at the university on potential strike action as it sought to halt the threat of compulsory redundancies – which bosses have previously said it would be unlikely they would be able to avoid. 'Unite has no option but to respond to the gross financial mismanagement which has shaken Dundee University to its foundations,' Unite industrial officer Katrina Currie said. 'Under no circumstances will we allow compulsory redundancies to take place because the workers are blameless, and they should not have to pay the price for incompetence.' She added that there must be a Government-backed task force set up to deal with the issue, describing the university financial body the Scottish Funding Council investigation into the cause of the crisis as 'insufficient'. Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: 'Unite will do everything industrially, legally and politically possible to protect the livelihoods of hundreds of workers at Dundee University. 'The situation is in danger of spiralling out of control, with the very existence of the university now at risk without government intervention. 'Unite will support our members every step of the way in defence of their jobs.'
