In a long piece on their website and, I guess, on Reporting Scotland, Political Editor, Brian Taylor failed to inform us in a manner which might have enabled to us to answer the question in his headline. It was yet another piece of conversational light entertainment as Taylor showed off his grasp of who was there and what they said inside the Holyrood bubble.
In more than 1 000 words we find nothing at all of the published evidence on the state of school-level education in Scotland. There’s plenty of it out there but, accepting the pressures of journalism, I’m not going to suggest Taylor should have been reading some of the difficult stuff in peer-reviewed journals. What about the Times Education Supplement (Scotland) read by teachers and lecturers, looking for jobs and sometimes looking for news of what’s happening in Scottish schools. It’s no difficult, ken?
Here are two recent reports there:
‘It’s guff that Scottish education is terrible’ Scottish education directors publish dossier in bid to challenge the narrative of failure in Scottish education
https://www.tes.com/news/its-guff-scottish-education-terrible
What does data really say about Scotland’s curriculum? Some analysis of Scotland’s curriculum is ‘meaningless’ – there isn’t enough evidence to gauge impact, say researchers
https://www.tes.com/news/what-does-data-really-say-about-scotlands-curriculum-0
And, from me but based of real big numbers:
Finally see this:
It is, therefore, important that I should state at the outset that there have nevertheless been significant successes. Scottish school education has benefitted greatly from Curriculum for Excellence. Some of these successes, such as an increased emphasis on the continuity of young people’s experience across the full period of schooling, were intended from the outset and built into the structure of the reforms. Others such as a greater attention to pupil voice and the involvement of young people in managing their learning have emerged as the programme has progressed.
Who said that? Tory think-tanker Dr Keir Bloomer speaking to a Welsh think tank earlier this year.
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
There are downright lies.
There are statistical lies.
Then there is BBC Scotland, with its Tory-lite agitprop.
When we vote YES, all these clowns will be scurrying around, looking for jobs in Birmingham, Newcastle and Manchester. CV? Hahahahaha!
The Sunday Sport had more integrity!
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The BBC has, hilariously, sent a busload (though it wont be a bus they are travelling on) of journalists from London up to Glasgow to discuss climate change policies in the city. They will travel first class, stay in plush hotels and have substantial expenses (meals, drinks, taxis) covered by the licence fee tax.
This will in itself, generate substantial amounts of CO2, as they bypass existing BBC staff working IN Glasgow.
Seems the BBC doesn’t rate BBC Scotland staff either. Though it will be News 24 which doesn’t employ Scots in any capacity I have seen.
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BBC Scotland has gone in a huff, no reports on Glasgow being first UK city aimimg to be carbon neutral, whereas it was on news 24 twice that I saw but not once on BBC Scotland
Contempt for the city they broadcast from is staggering , BBC Scotland is rife with yoons , they cannot even bring themselves to say well done ! .
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An example of enlightened! practise form south of the border…
https://www.theguardian.com/education/2020/jan/17/schools-converting-toilet-blocks-into-isolation-booths
It would be interesting to know how many Scottish schools (if any) practise this sort of “exclusion”.
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Thanks. Wrote about something similar back in August:
https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2019/08/29/schooling-in-scotland-and-england-drift-further-apart-as-the-tories-choose-brutal-exclusion/
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Meantime Toodle-oo Taylor neglected an opportunity to inform the Scottish viewing public that Scottish Universities have come within a whisker of achieving their improved access for degree entrants from most disadvantaged areas interim target fully 2 years ahead of schedule. Reported on news.gov.scot yesterday. link and snippets below:
https://news.gov.scot/news/access-to-higher-education-continues-to-widen
Scotland’s universities have nearly met the interim targets set for widening access – two years ahead of schedule.
Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) figures for the academic year 2018/19 show 15.9% of full-time first degree entrants to Scottish universities came from the nation’s 20% of most deprived areas – just under the target of 16% by 2021.
The figures also show:
• there was a continued rise in the number of Scottish domiciled enrolments to Scottish higher education institutions (HEIs) which now stands at 163,470, a rise of 1.6% since 2017/18 – the highest number of enrolments since 2010/11
• the first fall in EU enrolment numbers since the expansion of the EU in 2004
• a record 253,475 students were enrolled at Scottish HEIs in 2018/19, a 2.6% increase from last year and a 10.2% rise since 2006/07
Sadly, the figures also indicate the early effects of Brexit on enrolment of EU entrants – Thanks for nothing PM Johnston.
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