Education, Culture and Sport Committee, 04 Sep 2001
Meeting date: Tuesday, September 4, 2001
Official Report
114KB pdf
Technology Teachers Association
Item 6 is petition PE233, from the Technology Teachers Association. Members will recall that the committee dealt with the petition some time ago and asked for further information. Members will now have received a considerable amount of information in the post. I invite members to make comments, if they have been able to get through all the information in the time available.
I remember the previous discussion on the petition. Members were able to identify with some clear points that were made in the petition. I am still of the mind that a lot remains to be done. The papers that we have received back up the point of view with regard to technology training in schools—they highlight the lack of teaching of technical subjects in the classroom.
Members will recall the debate on the subject in Parliament. We received a report from the minister that the Executive was considering some of the issues concerned. I would like to hear what the minister's thinking is now. We should catch up with this matter quickly, as fewer kids are getting involved in technology training. In higher education, there is a whole issue surrounding kids in the fourth and fifth years who are not involved in any such training at all—that is perhaps to do with exams. We should address the matter and ask the minister to speak to us about it. There has been a response from the Executive, but it is out of date and not particularly helpful.
I agree with Cathy Peattie that we should hear from the minister. I support that idea in particular because of the widespread reports about the minister's views on liberalising the curriculum, and because of my belief that that is already happening in Lanarkshire.
As we are considering a matter that relates to the curriculum, we should be able to ask the minister what changes the curriculum might bring to the teaching of technology subjects. It would be a good idea to invite the minister to speak to the committee, as we could broaden our questioning to cover the whole curriculum.
I agree that we still have a role in the matter. The outcome of the debate that Cathy Peattie referred to was that technology studies and the like can contribute significantly to Scotland's economic growth and that they are therefore an integral part of promoting such growth.
The papers that we have seen underline our key concerns. They establish that there is a decline in the number of pupils who are taking those subjects and in the number of teachers who are able to teach them. They also highlight the fact that there has been a lack of investment in developing the programme, as it is always fairly expensive to resource that kind of advance in technology. That has not been properly taken into account.
The situation seems almost to have reached crisis point, as some parts of the country are now very poorly served. We must act quickly, as it will be difficult to turn that situation around. Once schools have committed rooms to other purposes, it becomes difficult to take them back again to provide the space required for the equipment and machinery needed to teach technological studies. In addition, the age profile of technology teachers is changing; they are getting older all the time and younger teachers are not coming in to teach the subject. There are all kinds of issues that touch on that area.
We should also question the minister about the concerns raised by John Dakers of the University of Glasgow, who is particularly concerned about the lack of a foundation level for the new qualification that is coming on stream. He asks why it is possible to have a foundation level in mathematics, physics and other seemingly difficult subjects, while we are unable to provide a foundation level in technological studies, thereby excluding around a third of school pupils from taking a subject that we all agree more pupils should take up. There are lots of issues to discuss in connection with those points.
We shall send the information that we have to the minister, ask for his comments on all the evidence that we have received and invite him to come to a future meeting to discuss matters in more detail. It would be useful to get a written response from the minister before he comes, so that we have some idea of where his thoughts lie on the subject. We shall try to schedule that as soon as possible.