Ludo Thierry
Meanwhile (grabbing coffee) and noticed good stuff on news.gov.scot. Today’s figures
regarding ‘outcomes’ for graduates of Scotland’s College sector continuing to show excellent results. SNP Scottish Govt and YES majority Parlt delivering for Scotland’s colleges which are delivering for Scotland’s economy. The new and better Scotland’s virtuous interaction of educational, social, employment and economic assets gradually replacing the centuries of neglect and desperate ad hoc arrangements observable when under the control of the London party branch offices. Link and snippets below:
https://news.gov.scot/news/more-college-leavers-heading-straight-into-work
Efforts to offer different paths into employment bearing fruit.
More college graduates opted to start work last year, according to latest statistics.
There was a 2.2% rise in college leavers entering employment in 2018, up to 49.3%, Scottish Funding Council data published today shows. Other findings include:
• 95.4% of college qualifiers now go on to a ‘positive destination’ such as further study at college or university, training or employment, up from 95% the previous year
• 39.8% of people leaving college in the period progressed to university
The findings also reveal more people from the 10% most deprived area were more likely to start work (around 48%) after leaving college, than those from the 10% least deprived areas (around 41%).
Talking-up Scotland / Scottish media fact checking is like shooting fish in a barrel 
Ludo, Thank you for publicising this.
School leavers’ destinations has, for a couple of years been a source of uninformed attacks on education in Scotland – i.e. ‘yet again, the SG fails our young people’ or words to that effect. As usual, it is wilfully quoting data out of context. The FE sector in Scotland is in a different position to FE in rUK. Reorganisations (sometimes ‘painful’ with regard to relations with College unions) have resulted in it being much more firmly within the Secondary School/Higher Education nexus. Increasingly, it has become a viable option for school leavers and it has also, increasingly, become a route into Higher Education and such entrants to HE by this route are, of course, much older than school leavers. So, while the percentage of school leavers going directly into HE might have ‘flatlined’ or declined, the numbers, particularly from areas of high SIMD, going into HE is increasing because some people from these areas use the FE route.
And, of course, many FE courses are valuable ends in themselves and of as much value to the students involved as would be an HE degree. To a fair extent they are providing the kind of ‘technical’ school alternative that has been common in Germany for example for many decades, where such schools have parity of esteem with other types of secondary school.
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Also noted the figures released today demonstrating that ScotRail’s annual average punctuality rate has risen by 0.6% to 88%. (HUMZA MUST GO!). GMS mentioned it this morning but it isn’t appearing on the website so thought worth posting (36,000 extra trains in Scotland arriving on time since start of the year seems newsworthy – but clearly not to the beeb Scotland website). Link and snippet below:
https://www.sundaypost.com/fp/scotrail-hails-improved-punctuality-on-train-services/
The punctuality of ScotRail trains has increased by the largest figure since 2015, the rail operator said.
New data from ScotRail shows the number of trains arriving on time between September 15 and October 12 rose 7.2% compared to the same period the year before, reaching 89.1%.
Punctuality is measured using the UK-wide public performance measure (PPM), which requires trains to arrive at stations within five minutes of the advertised time, having stopped at all scheduled stations.
The rail provider believes that better preparation for autumn weather has proven key to keeping trains running on time.
Network Rail has deployed “leaf buster” trains to clear tracks, as well as the first use of cryogenic and microwave technologies to keep railheads clean.
ScotRail managing director Alex Hynes said: “Customers have benefited from an extra 36,000 trains arriving on time since the start of the year compared to the same period last year, and that’s no fluke.”
ScotRail has also seen the annual average for punctuality in the last 12 months improve by
0.6% to 88%.
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Stumbled on this beeb report about IoM by chance – Interesting to note the penny beginning to drop with the Manx people about how beeb drains funds from IoM but continues, blithely, viewing IoM as just another bit of the nation of England. Seems that beeb ruling elite simply can’t help themselves. Link and snippet below:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-isle-of-man-50061380
People on the Isle of Man feel “short-changed” by the BBC, an MHK has said.
Daphne Caine called on the Manx government to pursue “adequate portrayal of the Isle of Man and its whole cultural identity” by the corporation.
The Council of Ministers is in talks with the organisation about securing “improved outcomes” for the island.
Speaking in Tynwald, Mr Thomas (Policy and Reform minister) said the additional reporter would “further enhance coverage”.
The Isle of Man and the Channel Islands were treated as if they were “part of the England nation for the purposes of the Royal Charter,” he added.
But Mrs Caine said the islands “feel they’re very much not part of England”, and the coverage should feature more than “just politics”.
She continued: “For our own culture and identity to be reflected properly, for the licence fee that all households are paying, it does feel like we are being very much short-changed.”
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