The Scottish Government

Future of Education

First Minister Jack McConnell made a speech on the future of education to an audience of headteachers in Glasgow on Tuesday, November 5, 2002.

Full text

Good morning to you all and my thanks to you for taking the time to join me today.

I appreciate the many demands on your time and that your school is expecting and needing your early return.

But I do want to take this opportunity to set out the steps we have taken, highlight the challenges ahead of us, and outline to you the key principles and objectives driving the progress we will make together in school education.

And I wanted to do that with you - headteachers from across Scotland, representatives of COSLA and the teacher organisations - for this simple reason.

Because you have the expertise, the skills and now, the tools, to meet the challenge and deliver the quality of education all Scotland's children deserve.

Let's first reflect on where we are.

• In the 30 years since we introduced comprehensive education we have gone from 10% of our young people going on to post-school education to 50% - proof if any were needed, that we were never dealing with a small or fixed pool of talent
• Since 1999 we have significantly increased the learning opportunities with a free nursery place for every 3 and 4 year old
• reductions in class sizes in the early years of primary
• investment in school buildings and significant new equipment in schools
• from 2000, reduced the central initiative cycle through the national priority framework
• significantly reduced the burden of assessment in Higher Still and modernised teaching contracts

That's an impressive record of achievement. Not least for those who worked to secure those advances and for the thousands who have benefited.

And since 1999 we have been doing more - tackling an important set of problems that were holding back progress.

• The teachers' agreement set out to remove from the profession the burden of one of the most complicated, inflexible and bureaucratic set of conditions of service for public sector employees anywhere in Europe

• Our action on school discipline was aimed at getting the right balance between working for the majority of children who do turn up on time, participate in their class and want to get on with learning - and changing those who don't

• The focus on exams was about sorting out the system to improve administration and make sure it worked at its best for those in S5 and S6

• And our commitment to renew and refurbish school buildings - the largest investment in school infrastructure in Scotland since the war - is directly aimed at creating the 21st century learning environment our children deserve.

All of this work was geared towards moving us forward - but it meant first tackling the problems and barriers that stand in the way of progress.

But now it is time to move on to the kind of education service and the kind of school, we want to see in this new century.

What is a good school?

It's the well-led school - where the teachers know not just the child's name, they know the child.

It's the school that buzzes. Where the children I see are energetic, enthusiastic, alive and learning.

Where the classrooms are bright and clean and learning is constant.

The school where the staff room is a place for professionals to be together - to sound out ideas, solve problems, help each other.

It's the school where everyone is welcome - especially parents - and where mutual respect is visible - respect amongst the pupils, respect amongst staff.

That for me is the excellent school.

On those foundations each pupil grows and develops. The achievement of each - whatever it is - is celebrated and valued.

From that school, attainment rises and pupils leave as confident and ambitious young adults.

There are excellent schools in Scotland. But not every child is in one. And that just isn't good enough.

Our children have many abilities and many talents. Some will excel in academic achievement. Others will show their potential in music or sport or drama. Others will be our problem solvers - helping to make the world work.

Each one of those children has a value you couldn't put a price on. Each one is unique and special.

Some say we should concentrate on a few schools or a minority of pupils. Others want the same education for all.

Well, for me, these are not choices. I won't settle for the improvements we have made and be satisfied with that. I won't settle for ambition for a few - and I will not settle for standardisation for the many.

I am not interested in having a few schools as centres of excellence. My goal is for every school in Scotland to be excellent.

That's the objective which lay behind the education act this Parliament passed in its early days. An Act that went further than ever before and gave every child in Scotland the right to an education that fulfils his or her potential.

An education that meets each child's needs. An individual education in a universal system.

Some schools will struggle to meet these standards. In the future, the Inspectorate must target their expertise and their resources to help them reach the high standards we need.

Let me be clear. We are not going to tolerate under performing in our schools, our classrooms or our education departments. Our children get one chance at school education and I will not ask them to put their future on hold while management dithers and wonders whether to act.

So alongside this additional effort from the Inspectors, I expect to see every local authority meet its responsibility to manage the system, take action to address under-performance, set high standards and monitor progress.

The comprehensive principle is at the heart of what we are doing. Equal access to an education that works for all our children. But schools must inspire each child.

So let me be clear - a principle is not a system. And the comprehensive principle was never meant to be and must not become, the excuse for a uniform system. Those who thought it should were wrong. One size fits all is not good enough for Scotland today.

To reap the benefits of the work done over recent years, to honour the right each child now has and to deliver that quality of education - we need greater flexibility, diversity and choice.

• We know the curriculum doesn't work for all our children - so why not maximise its flexibility?

• We know parents are crucial - so why do we sometimes shut them out?

• We know teachers and headteachers have ideas and enterprise - so why not give them more power to make the decisions that matter?

• We know that the critical relationship is the one between the teacher and the pupil - so why not maximise the time the teacher has to develop that ?
• We know that the essence of teaching is the skill to know when a child is ready to go further - so why not let each teacher use that skill to the fullest?

It is time for us to promote the individual learning of each child - inside our universal system.

We have talked for years of the transition problem between primary and secondary education. Why do we persist in retaining that divide?

Let's use the flexibility that is now in the system to have teachers working across primary and secondary. Use the adult support we have in the early years to support the child's development through this critical adolescent period. Minimise the change the young person faces, where that change has no educational value.

We also know that the first 2 years of secondary schooling moves too fast for some and too slow for others.

So let's make more use of setting. Put real effort into genuine parental involvement and make progress through courses which are tailored to individual development.

In the third and fourth years of secondary, let's tackle the disruption that comes from boredom and increase the choices our young people have. We need to increase the opportunity for vocational education and make sure that every young person leaves school with the core skills and confidence they need to make their way in the adult world.

And in the years to come we will be in a unique position with falling school rolls and increasing numbers of teachers and other school staff. This opportunity should not be squandered. The decisions we make on priorities should be carefully considered.

I want to see a real debate, proper research and well thought through decisions on whether this unique opportunity should lead to:

• a further reduction in teacher/ pupil ratios in early primary, or

• a reduction in the late primary years, or

• even in early secondary, where the dip in attainment, engagement and enthusiasm seems worst.

I'm not interested in arithmetic or slogans - I'm interested in solutions and maximising the opportunities we offer to all our children.

So the principles and objectives I am setting for the future of school education, are these:

• More decentralised management - let the Headteacher make more of the decisions about how the flexibility in the system is used and the resources are applied
• More parental involvement - acknowledging their crucial role in their child's future
• More choice and diversity in the curriculum - let's have an education service that meets the needs of every child
• Decisive action to achieve and maintain high standards - our children deserve no less
• Resources targeted to close the gap - quality education for each and every child, regardless of their post-code or their family circumstances

We have a choice here in Scotland. We can fall back on the old Scottish trait of accepting what we have and making the best of it - or we can work hard and work constantly to be the best.

The Scotland I want to live in is a Scotland of ambition, a Scotland that sets no limits to the excellence it can achieve - in business, in science and innovation, in health and in care.

We're building that new Scotland in a world where the global economy dominates and where here at home, all the demographic evidence points towards a declining population and an ageing population.

The need to harness all the talent and ability we have has never been more pressing. But I want us to do that, not just because we need to - but because it is the right thing to do.

Central to building that new Scotland is education. And at the heart of education is the child - each child and every child.

The education we need is education that works for all our children and inspires every child.

That's our definition of the comprehensive principle for this new century. Education that brings out the ability and nurtures the talent that is in every child.

Flexible and diverse education, that rejects uniformity and stagnation.

Education which recognises the key role of local leaders and Headteachers in the driving seat of a journey towards excellence in every classroom.

Nothing less will do - and I will give you every support to do it.