Tag: education

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How Labour has failed Scotland’s young people

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Professor John Robertson OBA Labour Deputy Leader candidate, Phillipson, is in the Record today criticising the SNP for supposed failings with regard to the young. That takes nerve and the most shiny of brass necks. I’m going to have to be very selective and use a few examples of how Labour rather than the SNP, in the past and today regularly betrays the young. First, school exclusions plummet to just over a quarter of the level under Labour and full ‘expulsions’ to just one three-hundredth of the level then From School exclusion statistics published in April 2025, we can see that there … Continue reading How Labour has failed Scotland’s young people

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Why Scotland’s higher school violence is a myth now being pushed by Channel 4

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Professor John Robertson OBA From Channel 4 yesterday, the above and: Scotland has Britain’s highest rate of violent injuries to school staff reported to the safety watchdog, FactCheck can reveal. They include fractures, dislocations and even loss of consciousness, with the number of incidents logged at Scottish schools trebling in a decade. https://www.channel4.com/news/factcheck/factcheck-violent-injuries-against-school-staff-most-common-in-scotland It’s a big myth. Here’s why, from Grok AI: You can support Talking-up Scotland at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/checkout/help-talking-up-scotland-tell-truth-about-scotland/payment/nBQxjVzq/details or by direct bank transfer method – Bernadette/John Robertson, Sort code 08-91-04, Account 12266421 Continue reading Why Scotland’s higher school violence is a myth now being pushed by Channel 4

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Private schools intake drop welcomed by education experts but clearly worries BBC Scotland, Herald, Scotsman and Reform UK

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From Alasdair Macdonald [former Head Teacher] this morning: The Herod and the Scotsperson both headline the fall in the number of children attending private schools in Scotland since the introduction of VAT on school fees. Both papers call the decision to charge VAT ‘vindictive’ and present the fall as a bad thing. Over 95% of children in Scotland attend local authority schools and this has been the level since education became compulsory in 1873. The monies raised by VAT are hypothecated to public education. This, according to two of our ‘papers of record’, is a bad thing for Scottish education. … Continue reading Private schools intake drop welcomed by education experts but clearly worries BBC Scotland, Herald, Scotsman and Reform UK

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‘Teachers to vote on strike action over workload’ despite Scotland maintaining the lowest PTRs overall, reflecting higher per-pupil spending and policy priorities on smaller classes

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Professor John Robertson OBA It’s impossible to escape the conclusion that if teacher workload is the issue in Scottish schools then there is a failure here of management in schools to apply the clearly superior funding made available by the Scottish Government and maintained over decades now. The facts from Grok AI with sources below are above and: Sources: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/education-and-training-statistics-for-the-uk/2024 https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/education-and-training-statistics-for-the-uk/2023 There’s more: By JB The headline above is from Teachers Education Supplement magazine 2019 in an article about a teacher from England who came to work in Scotland. “Teachers have a far better time of it north of the border, says … Continue reading ‘Teachers to vote on strike action over workload’ despite Scotland maintaining the lowest PTRs overall, reflecting higher per-pupil spending and policy priorities on smaller classes

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Massive fall in number of children in care as progressive policies work to reduce poverty and as violent crime reduces but, hey, you don’t need to know that do you?

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Scotland’s system for children in care. Professor John Robertson OBA There’s something important missing from the above ‘news‘ today on children in care in Scotland – how big a problem is this and is it growing or shrinking? Surely, we need to know the answers? Here’s why that is not on the agenda in the MSM in Scotland: Massive fall in number of children in care as progressive policies work to reduce poverty and as violent crime reduces From Children’s Social Work Statistics: Looked After Children 2023/24 published 22 April 2025, we can see that the number of children requiring to be … Continue reading Massive fall in number of children in care as progressive policies work to reduce poverty and as violent crime reduces but, hey, you don’t need to know that do you?

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How Scotland’s schools are preventing the spread of County Lines gangs exploitation of children as young as 13

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With only 3 days left, support Talking-up Scotland’s work to counter the lies and get you the facts, daily, at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/checkout/help-talking-up-scotland-tell-truth-about-scotland/payment/nBQxjVzq/details or by direct bank transfer method – John Robertson, Sort code 08-91-04, Account 12266421 Professor John Robertson OBA The Express today has the above and: Children as young as 13 are running violent county lines drug gangs across Britain as school exclusions and vanishing “ghost pupils” fuel an explosion in exploitation, an expert has warned. Former children’s commissioner for England Anne Longfield said youngsters barely into their teens were heading drug networks, controlling supply lines of up to 80 miles, ordering … Continue reading How Scotland’s schools are preventing the spread of County Lines gangs exploitation of children as young as 13

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News you won’t hear anywhere else – More than 90% of Scottish schools pass inspection on their performance regarding learning, teaching and assessment and raising attainment and achievement

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Support Talking-up Scotland’s work to counter the lies and get you the facts, daily, at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/checkout/help-talking-up-scotland-tell-truth-about-scotland/payment/nBQxjVzq/details or by direct bank transfer method – Sort code 08-91-04, Account 12266421 Professor John Robertson OBA From Primary and secondary school inspections in 2024/25: FOI release, published today and answering these questions: we can see on the key questions of standards of Learning, teaching and assessment and Raising attainment and achievement, on which all 168 Primary and Secondary schools were assessed, the following results: On the third question, the response was: Education Scotland does not hold the information you have requested, and therefore, we are applying … Continue reading News you won’t hear anywhere else – More than 90% of Scottish schools pass inspection on their performance regarding learning, teaching and assessment and raising attainment and achievement

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BBC Scotland misunderstands the attainment gap again, only ever really closed in Maoist China and Albania, to platform the Scottish Cons and Labour’s Pam Duncan-Glancy un-educated rants

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Support Talking-up Scotland’s work to counter the lies and get you the facts, daily, at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/checkout/help-talking-up-scotland-tell-truth-about-scotland/payment/nBQxjVzq/details Professor John Robertson OBA For no apparent reason in the text, BBC Scotland’s Lucy Adams has an extended report today – Has Scotland closed the attainment gap in schools?, with only one 5-year retired prof (Sue Ellis) as a source, only limited broad statistics to conceal areas of success and, of course a platform for the opposition parties to rant: First Minister John Swinney is expected to renew this commitment ahead of another Holyrood campaign in 2026, but any assessment of his party’s progress so far … Continue reading BBC Scotland misunderstands the attainment gap again, only ever really closed in Maoist China and Albania, to platform the Scottish Cons and Labour’s Pam Duncan-Glancy un-educated rants

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Thanks to SNP among the best paid in Europe with by far the smallest classes and the least anxious in the UK so why are teacher union leaders and media hiding strike action poll response rate to try to undermine SNP Government – loyalty to Labour?

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Support Talking-up Scotland’s work to counter the lies and get you the facts, daily, at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/checkout/help-talking-up-scotland-tell-truth-about-scotland/payment/nBQxjVzq/details Professor John Robertson OBA In the Herald today: A ballot organised by Scotland’s largest teaching union has displayed strong support for strike action, if a long awaited promise to cut teachers’ class contact time is not delivered in the near future. The ballot organised by the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) resulted in 92% in favour of action short of strike and 83% in favour of strike action. The online consultative ballot opened in June at the EIS annual general meeting and closed this week. An … Continue reading Thanks to SNP among the best paid in Europe with by far the smallest classes and the least anxious in the UK so why are teacher union leaders and media hiding strike action poll response rate to try to undermine SNP Government – loyalty to Labour?

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Why Scotland’s older ‘folded’ geology makes Farage’s ‘back of a cigarette packet’ fracking policy, stupid and dangerous

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Support Talking-up Scotland’s work to counter the lies and get you the facts, daily, at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/checkout/help-talking-up-scotland-tell-truth-about-scotland/payment/nBQxjVzq/details Professor John Robertson OBAThe above BBC article, based on Reform UK comments, makes no mention of the older folded geology which Scotland is made up of almost entirely. I seemed to remember reading something suggesting that it would make fracking more difficult and, inevitably, more dangerous. Unable to find it by Googling, I asked my old pal Grok AI: Does Scotland’s older more folded geology make fracking more difficult? The answer: See the above reference to problems in fracking in the Scottish Midlands Valley? Here’s the … Continue reading Why Scotland’s older ‘folded’ geology makes Farage’s ‘back of a cigarette packet’ fracking policy, stupid and dangerous