Dear All
If you are a regular reader of this blog, you will know I
have certain themes which I have touched on through-out the years. I spent 20
years at Glasgow University , during that time; I was
involved in various activities which allowed me to see how education operated.
I even spent time as a part time student and also as a teacher at Glasgow University . Truth be told, I was a
better teacher than most people who earned a coin doing so.
One of the self evident truths is that Scotland is a corrupt country, in
the field of education which is trumped as getting in on the basis of ability
that is clearly bullshit. Ordinary working class students struggle to get into
higher and further education. Since Scotland’s ‘jolly fat man’ Alex Salmond of
‘standing up for Scotland’ fame took office, there are 4,000 fewer teachers,
140,000 fewer people at college and 3,000 fewer children from deprived
communities in higher education.
For working class people, the route out of deprived
communities is by way of the college system, not universities. The Scottish
National Party, the so called party of fairness, equality and social justice
has effectively closed that down.
How does that work?
It is a relatively simple concept to understand, the
Scottish National Party is effectively ‘pulling the ladder up’, by doing so
they are trapping generations of working class people to a lifetime of no
opportunities. What the SNP should have done is split the Scottish Funding
Council into two separate bodies, Scottish Funding Council (universities) and
Scottish Funding Council (colleges). The university sector would be slimmed
down, the college sector expanded and the introduction of new communities
colleges which would take place in appropriate schools in order to teach some
subjects currently covered by the normal college sector. Community colleges
would be run by councils, funding streams would be provided by different
bodies.
Alex Salmond and the Scottish National Party Government had
7 years to turn around failing schools, discrimination in education and cut
class sizes. The tale of the tape is that Salmond’s legacy of the smiling
‘jolly fat man’ who is your ‘friend’ is entirely a sham; his record in
education is as stated by others 'shameful'. Like in the Justice Department,
Salmond appointed another one of his friends to be education minister; the name
of that crony is Mike Russell. Russell in common with MacAskill is in need of
permanent removal from Ministerial Office, for him, its one big joke, for the
children, it’s a lack of achievement which they will carry through-out their
lives. Opportunities curtailed by the party which laughingly claims to stand up
for Scots, except they don’t.
As the Scottish Labour Party is without a leader at present,
Labour in the form of MSP Jackie Baillie took to the field to tell the First
Minister to take his Education Minister with him when he steps down later this
month. As to the Tory demands to take schools out of local authority control, I
don’t agree with this, if the SNP can’t do the job at present, how is
increasing their workload going to make matters better?
Jackie Baillie used First Minister’s Questions to call for
the removal of Mike Russell after asking whether the number of teachers, people
attending college and youngsters from poor backgrounds attending university had
increased or fallen since 2007.
As is typical, Salmond treated the parliament with contempt
as he refused to answer the questions, this prompted Baillie to rattle out a
few home truths, 4,000 fewer teachers, 140,000 fewer people at college and
3,000 fewer children from deprived communities in higher education.
The Scottish National Party has no interest in helping
people who are working class, maybe the deluded 45% 90 minutes Nationalist rent
a mob should stop and question why majority of Scots are fairing so badly!
7 years of government and things are getting worse.
As to the Tory demand, Salmond rejected taking schools out
of local authority control after the Tories challenged him over an article by
Keir Bloomer. He is one of the architects of the new curriculum, which has gone
down like a lead balloon due to being rushed through by Mike Russell’s
department, because as we know, no one has anytime to do their job properly
because it is all about independence.
Ruth Davidson, the Scottish Tory leader, said Mr Bloomer had
warned Scotland ’s
schools were doing “significantly worse” in reading, maths and science. We
aren’t any better now in 2014 than we were in 2000.
But the real kicker of the epic failure to deliver; is that an
official report published this week found only 3.9 per cent of pupils in the
poorest areas get three A grades in their Higher exams compared with 24.2 per
cent in the wealthiest communities. One of the things I have written about in
the past also highlighted by the Bloomer report is that universities are making
only very small improvements in recruiting poor students. They try to pass this
off by saying their efforts were hampered by "low levels of school
attainment".
In one year, I think the University of St Andrews
admitted somewhere in the region of 13 people from the poorest background as
students, I don’t know about you, but I call that bullshit!
Baillie told MSPs:
"The truth is there are fewer teachers giving our
children the education they need, there are fewer college places for people
trying to get on in life and the poorest people are less likely to go on to
university under this SNP Government. He (Salmond) should be ashamed. Isn't it
the case that when the First Minister leaves Bute House for the last time he
should perhaps consider taking the Education Secretary with him?"
The next words out of her mouth should have been to say
‘community colleges’ to help students attain better grades.
On the stripping of colleges, the number of people attending
college has dropped from 379,223 to 238,805. This was a deliberate cut by the
SNP on the further education budget of £67 million which was done to maintain spending
on universities.
So, working class Scots are losing out as universities which
are mini fiefdoms setup satellites in foreign countries to act as a ‘cash cow’,
while at home, the universities increase the number of foreign students which
isn’t a new thing by any means if you are willing to take the time and do the
research of the various universities Court minutes.
The poor working class Scots pushed out to make way for rich
students; and the kicker on that is that the majority of working class people
in this country are the ones funding higher education which their children are
finding it increasingly difficult to access.
The number of children from the 40 per cent most deprived
communities who attend university has dropped from 21,851 to 18,702 between the
2009/10 and 2012/13 academic years.
The Scottish National Party ‘standing up for Scotland ’, the only question is who’s Scotland ?
To show the case for urgent reform, the Tories this week
published a book of articles, mostly by politically impartial authors. The main
problem of the Tories position in the past that their view that tuition fees
should be introduced, effectively copying England . Scots are unwilling to
accept this, but there should be a debate on why the poorest in society are
subsidising the rich from well off backgrounds while being denied an equal and
fair chance.
Ruth Davidson highlighted Bloomer’s warning that SNP
ministers’ have a penchant for “self-congratulation”. This is true, if someone
in the party does something minor, and they are part of the clique, they seem
to get heralded as a visionary when in fact their contribution is minimal at
best.
Case in point, the 5 pence on a plastic bag passed by the
Scottish parliament!
The SNP like to cast up about the ‘wealth of talent’ in Scotland
and hark back to Scottish scientists who changed the world such as James Watt
and John Logie Baird, but we should remember that there is no one of that
calibre in the Scottish National Party.
As to unpopular Nicola Sturgeon, the so called ‘social
justice campaigner’ and graduated lawyer, well she is no Professor Charles
Kingsfield (that’s the name of the Harvard Lawyer Professor in the book, movie
and TV series called ‘The Paper Chase’. There is no gravitas surrounding Ms.
Sturgeon, quite the opposite I would suggest, she didn’t leave Glasgow University to be a high flying lawyer
sought after by the top law companies around the World.
She ended up in Drumchapel law Centre!
While she bravely fought the good fight shuffling paper in
the ‘drum’, I was teaching at Glasgow
University .
And I was brilliant!
Which is why I was able to come up with the idea for the
Scottish National Police Force and National Fire Service, Ms. Sturgeon has come
up with fake hair colour…… off the top of her head.
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at
3 comments:
George,
Like you, I worked in the Scottish university sector for 20 years. At the time the SNP were proposing free University education for the limited numbers that were able to get full time places, the relative cost of providing level 7 & 8 SCQF ( 1st and 2nd year) in a college was half that of provision in a University and it probably still is.
I proposed a number of time that these levels should be normally delivered in Colleges free of charge and that omly SCQF level 8&( were delivered at Universities. This would have saved a great deal of money, opened HE to a larger proportion of the population but would have meant a substantial contraction of the University sector in Scotland. Whilst this would not necessarily have been a bad thing, there is a tendency for turkeys not to vote for christmas.
Cheers
Terry
genius!
Crookie
Dear Terry
“Like you, I worked in the Scottish university sector for 20 years. At the time the SNP were proposing free University education for the limited numbers that were able to get full time places, the relative cost of providing level 7 & 8 SCQF ( 1st and 2nd year) in a college was half that of provision in a University and it probably still is”.
If you check back in this blog and elsewhere online, I always said as well that change was needed. Whole Uni departments could be offloaded into the college sector, some of their courses shunted into community colleges. Universities need slimmed down, I have always thought this through-out my entire time there at Uni, even as a mere workie.
“I proposed a number of time that these levels should be normally delivered in Colleges free of charge and that omly SCQF level 8&( were delivered at Universities. This would have saved a great deal of money, opened HE to a larger proportion of the population but would have meant a substantial contraction of the University sector in Scotland. Whilst this would not necessarily have been a bad thing, there is a tendency for turkeys not to vote for Christmas”.
I think previous Holyrood governments wrongly went to keep the status quo going, when the college sector needed to be expanded giving better bang for the buck. Later as you say, people could move onto university for their 3rd and 4th years. Subjects like Medicine, Vet and Denistry due to the nature of their tuition needs would probably all have to be done at university. I certainly think this needs re-visited as this is one can that cannot keep being kicked down the road. Education needs to be opened up to more people via the college and my idea for a ‘community college sector’ run out of schools.
Someone needs to grasp the nettle; the sector has spawned mini fiefdoms which have been less than successful.
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
Ps, contrary to popular belief, I was awake in uni classes but sat other qualifications elsewhere as I was part time and couldn’t afford to be a normal student
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