Let's talk about Edyukayshun

I want to challenge you to read this article. It's about the education of working-class and poor children in England:

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2017/nov/21/english-class-system-shaped-in-schools

You may read this and think: this is awful, but I'm so glad it's not like that in Scotland. But I am the ranting old bag (I got told off for using that title yesterday but I'm also a bolshie ranting old bag so gerrit up ye) and I want to challenge some of our misconceptions about Scottish education.

Professor Reay's credentials are impeccable - and so are mine by the way, so here we go.

I'm sick of hearing about 'the lad o pairts' who walked to university in Scotland in the 18th century from a croft in the Highlands with a bag of oatmeal to sustain him over the year. I've never been too sure what that was about, just that it didny mean me, a wee lassie from Govan (or my parents for that matter). I went on to higher education but my sister and brother didn't and they should have: same background, same education. And the reason? Scottish education is not open to all and never has been.

'Yes, you can.' Naw, ye canny. Or rather, only sometimes you can. It all depends: you may come to nursery education aged 3 from a family that is proud of you and wants you to get on. The golden glow probably lasts till about P5, as we all watch you learn to read and write and do maths, but if you display any learning or behavioural or social difficulties, there's a good chance your parents will be discouraged, as will your teachers. From then on, your hopes of doing well in Scottish education start to drop. It's not that your teachers no longer care. They just don't have the resources to support you. That's not unique to Scotland: I've seen the same thing in Sweden (where all is good and wonderful, except when it's not).

If you have a learning problem and are working class, then your chances of doing well in education in Scotland are further reduced.

And if you come from a family where your first language is not Scots English - and that includes Urdu, Pashto and Roma (but not Gaelic or Chinese where expectations are different) - well, you may start to slip down the results tables straight away, or just not ever make it on to them to begin with.

I'm referring here to the continuing obsession of Scottish education with testing. In this, I blame parents and HMI (inspectors). We have a very well educated population in Scotland. A lot of us are parents. And too many of us are caught up in the idea that you can measure from an early age how well children are learning - and that's enough. People are just not very good at working out what to do when children are not learning very well, so they blame the teachers.

Teachers train to do the job for at least 6 years: 4 years in a university + a year in training college. Then they have a probationary year. That's on the same level as architects, dentists and medics. So why do parents think they can blame schools and teachers when things go wrong? Sometimes it is the fault of the school (kids are picked on or have accidents when they're not supervised) but in terms of a child's education, the only reason we think it's okay to say a teacher's a bampot/junkie/useless (yes, I've heard them all) is that most of us have been to school so we know. Would you argue with a doctor the way I've heard parents argue with a teacher?

Add to this that education is the domain of local authorities, not the Scottish government so there's a constant act going on. The local authorities are happy when it's all going their way, but they have the option to blame central government when they're not getting their own way. And local authorities have come up with some complete heid-the-baw solutions to the education 'problem'. Are they still paying supply staff so little it's hardly worth their while leaving the house - so they don't?

What to do? I worked in education - 4 different jurisdictions in 35 years - in schools and local authorities. But I'm past it now - retired nearly 10 years. I'm told if I eat salad and stop drinking wine, I may make it to my 80s but even then I doubt if anyone is going to offer a solution to education's problems in Scotland...or will they? Pile in, folks. Bella and I await your ideas!