Recently retired school secretary and chair of the Scottish School Secretaries Society, kelticgirl (name withheld to protect the innocent) has told us: I worked as a school secretary for over 20 years and I have no idea what Pisa is. Our Education Correspondent, Fion Brews, tells us: Researchers have found that Scottish head teachers hid Pisa results from their secretaries because they feared that this often stroppy group might blackmail them with the evidence that Scottish weans were not frightened enough to do better in them. Continue reading Pisa so useless school secretaries have not heard of it!

From BBC Scotland today: Toddler escaped Aberdeen nursery and was almost hit by a bus. A mum whose three-year-old son escaped from a nursery and was nearly hit by a bus has said the early years sector needs to get a grip of the growing problem. Kayleigh Kilpatrick’s son River left the nursery school in Aberdeen without staff noticing and walked most of the 15-minute journey home before he was found next to a busy road by a passer-by. His mother said her son suffers anxiety and separation issues as a result of the incident. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-67677891 First, do we have … Continue reading My ribs hurt! BBC Scotland blames SNP’s best childcare provision in the UK for toddler escape!

The folk of Kelso look puzzled and well they might. Question Time last night, particularly on Education, when we saw the SNP representative, Angela Constance subjected to quickfire attack and constant interruption from both sides, the English host, Fiona Bruce, and the American right-wing activist, Kate Andrews, was a disgracefully uninformed experience. …compared to England. https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001tcjh/question-time-2023-14122023 Disgracefully uninformed? Only politicians and media presenters make use of Pisa data. No credible researcher in education will use them other than to point to their lack of value in developing educational policy. See: OECD and Pisa tests are damaging education worldwide – academics … Continue reading What do an American and an English woman actually know about Scottish education? Pisa all!

By stewartb Before leaving the BBC’s day of NHS coverage behind, its News website article entitled ‘The hospitals struggling the most as winter bites‘ reports this: ‘Alongside the data on handover times, figures released on Thursday showed: 30% of patients waited longer than the target time of four hours in A&E in November.’ So, 70% of attendances met the 4-hour standard – wow, is that the best in the UK? Well no, the BBC is ‘AT IT’ again! This is what the just published NHS England report actually reveals about A&E waiting times in November, 2023: * 55.4% of patients … Continue reading BBC concealing England’s true A&E waiting times again

stewartb It’s been a busy day (14 December) for the BBC covering the latest insights into the performance of the NHS. The Corporation’s approach has been interesting to observe: – the Radio 4 Today programme had a piece from the BBC’s own Nick Triggle on how much longer handovers from ambulances to A&E departments were taking in NHS England. He also told listeners – to provide helpful perspective as part of the BBC’s public service no doubt – that the same problems were present across the UK. – ‘national’ news bulletins during the Today programme reported on the same topic … Continue reading The contrast in how the BBC chose to cover NHS matters in England and in Wales was stark

I’m grateful to readers Bob Lamont and Alan Gordon this material. Today, BBC Scotland’s Lisa Summers wrote: Halfway through a Monday afternoon in mid-December, there were 14 ambulances queuing outside A&E at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary – over half of the available fleet at the city’s main ambulance station. https://archive.ph/REk7p#selection-405.0-405.198 Over half? There are 101 ambulances listed as based in Edinburgh: https://www.scottishambulance.com/media/rw1bpiuf/fleetlist0923.pdf Alan puts it clearly: “Half the fleet waiting at the hospital.” 14 ambulances! Left you with the impression that the other half, 14, were left to pick up every other patient.Half the fleet, really? Only 28 ambulances for the … Continue reading More lies on ambulance availability from Lisa Summers

From the Scottish Government today: New powers enabling councils to charge up to double the full rate of council tax on second homes have been agreed by the Scottish Parliament. Councils will be able to increase the charges from 1 April 2024, with rates for the first year being based on those from 2023-24. The change brings second homes into line with council tax policy on long-term empty homes and aims to increase housing availability by encouraging more homes to be used for living in. New owners of properties that have previously been empty for more than twelve months will … Continue reading More progressive SNP taxation – second and empty homes

In a sad attempt to trick readers into thinking this has something to do with Scottish-government owned CalMac, the best ferry service in the world based on extensive comparative international research done here, the 11th best ferry correspondent in Greenock suggests that the Highland Council-owned mainland Corran ferry is somehow part of a set of ‘Scottish ferries.’ Like the Herald is a ‘Scottish newspaper?’ Highland Council is not mentioned until the 12th paragraph. As for the survey sample of 1 000 from communities served by the ferry, including Morvern, no detail is offered. We know it was hand-delivered leaflets which … Continue reading Corran ferry is not CalMac, the survey is crap and and a tunnel is a bad idea in an earthquake zone

..beginning to affect the NHS and patients are being put at risk by dangerous delays. Crews are enduring long waits outside A&E in England because hospitals are struggling to deal with overcrowded wards. ..here spent almost two hours outside a hospital because there was no space in A&E. The Scottish Ambulance Service figures reflect wider pressures on the service with hospitals having few beds available for patients who need one. In Scotland, bed occupancy in the most recent quarter, ending June 2023 was 87%. In the quarter ending December 2022 it was 89%. In England, the comparable figures were 93% … Continue reading Reporting Scotland lie about bed availability in NHS Scotland to chase England’s ambulances

From cuckooshoe: Compare this 👇 https://www.gov.scot/news/achievement-of-curriculum-for-excellence-cfe-levels-2022-23/ Official statistics have been released today on school pupils’ Achievement of Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) Levels (ACEL) in the reading, writing, listening & talking and numeracy ‘organisers’. The statistics, based on teacher judgement, report on the percentage of school pupils in Primary 1 (P1), Primary 4 (P4), Primary 7 (P7) and Secondary 3 (S3) who have achieved the expected CfE Levels relevant to their stage. The results show: For P1, P4 and P7 pupils combined, more than seven in ten pupils (73 per cent) achieved the expected CfE Level for literacy in 2022/23. This … Continue reading A lesson in how BBC Scotland twists the facts to undermine our confidence in ourselves