Tag: education

2 Comments

How dare SNP ministers responsible for already giving us the best pay and conditions in the UK, offer us even better working conditions before we can claim credit for negotiating it?

johnrobertson834

Professor John Robertson OBA The Herald and the Scotsman and Scottish Labour just love the EIS. I was in education for nearly 4 decades. I never did a proper survey but it seemed like there was a lot of moaning going on. I’ve worked in chemical works, a power station, a psychiatric hospital laundry, sawmills and a parks department. It was often difficult – too cold, too hot, smelly, disgusting, too hard, scary – but in everyone of them, moaning all the time would just get you teased, sometimes cruelly, in often wickedly funny ways. In education, far too many … Continue reading How dare SNP ministers responsible for already giving us the best pay and conditions in the UK, offer us even better working conditions before we can claim credit for negotiating it?

7 Comments

As Labour ‘generously’ keep prescriptions at just under £10 a go how SNP free prescriptions have saved uncounted thousands of asthmatics

johnrobertson834

Professor John Robertson OBA Before we get into the often unreported benefits, let’s get rid of the myth that we cannot afford them. From Dispenser payments and prescription cost analysis Financial year 2024 to 2025 published yesterday: The total (net) cost, which is the final cost to the Scottish Government once item costs, service remuneration, advance payments and patient charges are taken into account, for dispensing items and providing services in 2024/25 was £1.66 billion. This increased by 2.5% from £1.62 billion in 2023/24 and continues a period of largely rising cost, increasing by 29.8% over the last 10 years. The total number of … Continue reading As Labour ‘generously’ keep prescriptions at just under £10 a go how SNP free prescriptions have saved uncounted thousands of asthmatics

1 Comment

As number of schools in England facing structural building failure surges, 92% in Scotland are safe – rated good or satisfactory – after inspection, up from only 62% under Labour

johnrobertson834

By stewartb Evidence of Westminster governments allowing England’s deterioration, this time its school buildings. What follows comes in a report from the National Audit Office (NAO) published today, 21 October: ‘Departmental overview: Department for Education 2024-25’ (See https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Department-for-Education-Overview-2024-25.pdf ) It reports, in the ‘matter of fact style’ that is characteristic of the NAO, that: ‘DfE has reported the risk of school building failure resulting from structural safety issues as one of its top risks since 2021-22. Our 2025 report ‘Maintaining public service facilities’ identified a £13.8 billion maintenance backlog in schools – 28% of the government backlog. Cabinet Office estimated that deferring work to … Continue reading As number of schools in England facing structural building failure surges, 92% in Scotland are safe – rated good or satisfactory – after inspection, up from only 62% under Labour

5 Comments

How Labour has failed Scotland’s young people

johnrobertson834

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

16 Comments

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

johnrobertson834

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

7 Comments

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

johnrobertson834

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

5 Comments

‘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

johnrobertson834

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

Leave a comment

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?

johnrobertson834

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?

4 Comments

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

johnrobertson834

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

1 Comment

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

johnrobertson834

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