Dear All
It seems that in her quest to re-define a unique 'Scottish
identity' for her party north of the border, Scottish Conservative Leader Ruth
Davidson appears has stumbled on a less than novel idea.
Copy the English Conservatives.
For over 30 years, the Scottish Conservatives have gone
nowhere politically except backwards, not unsurprisingly, they wish to change
their fortunes; unfortunately swimming against the tide of public opinion
doesn't work, either physically or mentally.
Ms. Davidson has been looking at the vast gaps between the
number of children gaining top grades from rich and poor backgrounds.
And, she has come up with what she says is 'the problem’; Scotland's
comprehensive school system is to blame.
She is of course wrong!
Ruth Davidson says she has never understood why 'the body
that takes out your bins, councils, is in charge of teaching our children.'
This begs the question do pupils from poor backgrounds do
badly because education is controlled from Councils?
The answer is no.
So, what do poor pupils not have?
Hope and aspiration based on the fact we live in a corrupt
country.
They also don't have access to money to hire private tutors
like the rich kids who I see sitting at the local library getting private
tuition after school, but it is not just money, but quality of the teachers.
Would giving more powers to head teachers solve the problem?
No!
There is no evidence from what I see to justify a change of
that order, just as teaching standards vary between teachers, so does standards
between head teachers.
For Davidson to climb onboard Michael Gove's controversial
free school model, provided it can be proved to work in England isn't a
Scottish solution.
And that is what she has to come up with, the Scottish
National Party, the party of 'cut and paste' aren't doing very well at present,
does she want to copy failure and 'cut and paste' other people's ideas without
the benefit of learning?
Who knows?
New figures which revealed vast disparities in grade
achievement between children from different socioeconomic backgrounds!
So, what is the solution to this problem, well, George
Laird, sometime ago, proposed the idea of community colleges.
Community colleges would be a way for children to get extra
tuition at night; these colleges would be run out of schools. For example in a
wider context, languages, if a family likes to holiday overseas, then the
entire family could learn a foreign language together as a group at community
college. Another aspect of community colleges could be cramming sessions, specifically
for kids, such a concept isn't new; the Japanese have done this for decades.
There would a framework needed for community colleges, that is just details to
be fleshed out but the idea is sound.
In education, the most important thing is attendance,
wanting to be there, good teachers are essential, it is not just understanding
their subject but also having the ability to impart knowledge at various
levels, not everyone learns at the same speed, some people take longer.
What is also missing is the ability to analyse, along with
another essential item in education........ Patience!
"In ma yoof a spent a number of years doing
teaching.... no what a mean mate!!!!"
Needless to say, I was brilliant, however I met others more
educated who were not brilliant, in fact you could say they were kidding
themselves on as well as doing a disservice to their 'trainees'. One day, a PhD
graduate assistant, Anne McPhail asked one of my trainees:
"Why do you go to George Laird and not one of us for
weight training"?
My trainee replied:
"George is like a proper instructor".
Anne McPhail, graduate assistant, PhD student and
international athlete couldn't compete with someone whose first job at Glasgow
University was 'taking out the bins'.
Although looking at other models is fine and should be
encouraged, and Ms. Davidson rightly points that the education figures obtained
by freedom of information laws are a "disgrace" under the Scottish
National Party Government, her suggestions appear to favour diluting the
"disgrace".
She asks:
"Why aren't we looking at vocational and technical
collages in Japan? Why aren't we looking at the free school model in Sweden?
Why aren't we looking at charter schools in the United States, so we can have
real and genuine reform?"
The SNP has put the government on pause, I hope this
addresses the question, plus, they aren't interested in helping the poor.
Will vocational and technical colleges make poorer kids get
the same results as rich kids?
No!
What it will do is funnel the poor kids into less
inspirational careers, thus raising the level between the rich and poor in an
apparent narrowing of the gap.
Gerrymandering the figures.
Some people might be tempted to opine that is really about massaging
the figures, what about late bloomers, kids who develop later? What happens to
those shunted off to vocational and technical colleges, if they find themselves
less than satisfied? They would be stuck; therefore, everyone should complete
their education to at least fourth year.
Then of course, there is the issue that there aren’t the
structures in place.
Ms. Davidson added:
"We need to have greater autonomy within our schools,
our head teachers need to have more power over how we teach pupils, because not
all children learn the same and not all children are taught the same."
That won't change by devolving power down to head teachers
from Councils, like kids, adults learn at different rates as well, even those
with a teaching qualification. Ms. Davidson needs to focus on improving the
learning experience for kids rather than trying to change something where the
benefits and learning outcomes are in doubt.
Last month Ms Davidson tried a Tory revival.... again, this
time she urged her party to reach out to "the everyday grafters of
Scotland".
As I understand it, she was saying everyone is 'working
class' who works with their hands.
The rather obvious flaw in her strategy was that there was
no working class "everyday grafters of Scotland" as MSPs in her party.
I am thinking about the old saying about practicing what you are preaching,
leading by example etc etc etc. Plainly it isn't enough to 'talk the talk', you
have to also 'walk the walk'.
The Conservative MSPs are either rich or university educated
or rich and university educated. Needless to say that idea of 'we are all
working class' quickly died a death, I don't even know if they are continuing
with it.
The majority of people in Scotland are working class, what
does it say that zero percent of her MSPs are not ordinary working class?
Does Ruth Davidson want to broaden the Scottish
Conservatives' appeal and attract working class voters?
Yes, she wants their votes, perhaps she should realise that
this isn't a something for nothing society, her failure on the bedroom tax,
didn't lose her any ground; the ground wasn't there in the first place. She
just reinforced the concept that she still doesn't get it concerning the
working class.
A Scottish Tory spokesman says the party is supporting
allowing schools to "opt out" of local authority control and was
looking at four or five different education models – including that of free
schools – from across the world.
Awhile ago, the Scottish Conservatives did a revamp of their
brand, that didn't work. They even changed their logo from a tree to something
that looked like something based on the British Flag.
Ms. Davidson needs to grasp the nettle and face the truth,
unless she can deliver for working class Scots at the bottom of society, she
will not be reviving her fortunes of that of the Scottish Conservatives anytime
soon.
Although she has recognised a 'problem' her solution leaves
a lot to be desired, she has gone off at a tangent and failed to address the
problem, to recap, the problem is the lack of kids who attain three or more As
at Highers, this is less than one in 30 from the poorest areas.
The question for Ms. Davidson is, can you solve this problem
so that poor children can achieve the same standards?
This has two possible outcomes,
Option A, she can solve the problem (not by vocational and
technical colleges), in which case, what is the answer from her and the
Scottish Conservatives.
Or:
Option B, she can't solve the problem because she doesn't
understand the question.
Education is a tool, if young people in poor areas see no
value in it, then it doesn't matter how the 'system' is tinkered with, it won't
make people want to learn.
When I was teaching at Glasgow University, sometimes people
who saw me teach would ask me, 'why do you let people talk shit to you in the gym’?
I explained that once they got that out of their system and failed doing it
their way; we wouldn't have to worry about that later on, getting rid of their
baggage early, then they can be educated. It wasn't just enough that they
learn, they also had to have the ability to teach in order to have a greater
understanding. Several years later, Glasgow University put in place a scheme
were young students would go teach kids.
Finally, although gerrymandering the figures to close the
gap is a "solution", it is the wrong solution.
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
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