Education and Lifelong Learning
College Budget Reductions (North East Scotland)
The Government’s key consideration has been to fund colleges in a way that allows the sector to continue to maintain student numbers. We are doing so. I welcome the commitment of Aberdeen College and Banff and Buchan College to merge, which will provide even better opportunities to plan the delivery of learning on a regional basis and to identify where there is unnecessary duplication or waste.
The latest published figures show that in 2010-11 Banff and Buchan College and Angus College received £823,907 and £333,564 respectively as discrete funding in recognition of their rurality. In response to a Scottish Parliament information centre inquiry on my behalf, the Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council has revealed that it is reviewing the funding methodology that is applied to rural colleges. Will the cabinet secretary explain why that is the case, what methodology is being considered and when the revised model will be announced? Will he guarantee that colleges serving rural areas will continue to receive adequate additional funding after regionalisation in respect of rurality and remoteness?
I expect that the effect of regionalisation will be to enhance the funding of Scotland’s colleges according to need. Indeed, I would be surprised if any member in the chamber was arguing for a funding formula that did not reflect the needs of colleges. My letter of instruction to the Scottish funding council over a long period of time since I have been minister has always stressed the importance of recognising where need exists. I personally have always argued strongly with the funding council and others for recognition of rurality. If those are the key issues that are worrying Alison McInnes, I am happy to set her mind at rest about them. I hope that she is not proposing to spend money that is not required or to reward inefficiency. I am very pleased that the boards of Aberdeen College and Banff and Buchan College have recognised the strength of merger and of what will arise from merger, and the need for regionalisation.
The cabinet secretary will of course be aware that in the first round of funding discussions a few years back Angus College and Banff and Buchan College faced some of the largest cuts in Scotland. Can he give an assurance that colleges serving rural areas will not be hit again and that they will be treated this time on a level playing field?
Colleges serving rural areas have always been treated on a level playing field and have been treated supportively. Indeed, I am pleased by the enthusiasm that Angus College, for example, is showing for its merger with Dundee College. I say as gently as I can to the member that the Tories’ new-found enthusiasm for backing college funding is very much at odds both with their record south of the border and with their approach to education, which has been luddite in the extreme in my view.
College Regionalisation
I think that we are all very pleased with the progress that is being made. A new regional structure for the college sector has now been established. Most colleges have opted to merge, and we anticipate better opportunities to plan the delivery of learning, to the ultimate benefit of the learner, and for significant efficiencies. In the minority of regions where there will continue to be more than one college, we expect the creation of college federations to deliver similar benefits.
According to Angus College, Dundee College and it are making excellent progress towards their agreed vesting date of 1 November 2013. To ensure a successful merger, however, the new college will require financial support. The merger partnership board is working on a transition bid for funding, which, if successful, will be supplemented by judicious use of existing reserves. What encouragement can the cabinet secretary offer the colleges that the bid will be looked upon favourably?
We have always recognised that merging colleges will incur exceptional and transitional costs. Colleges will need support to manage those costs, although they have substantial reserves that can and should be applied in such circumstances. We are providing £15 million to the college transformation fund and, of course, I will look sympathetically and closely at any bid for resources that might be required to support decisions to merge.
As a supporter of the college sector, I ask the cabinet secretary when it will be possible for him to announce the full costs of the college regionalisation process.
When the process is completed.
Will the cabinet secretary provide an update on colleges that have already merged and their experience of merger?
I will be glad to do so because there are some very good examples. The principal of the City of Glasgow College has indicated that the college has achieved considerable economies of scale and been able to do things that it would otherwise not have done. I have spoken comparatively recently to the principal of the newly created Edinburgh College, and she told me that it finds itself in a much stronger position and is better able to deliver right across the board for students and learning in this city. Colleges that have previously had experience of merger, such as Forth Valley College, show the great strengths that have emerged from such mergers.
Educational Attainment (Pupils from the Poorest Backgrounds)
This is a very important area. Raising the educational attainment of pupils from the poorest backgrounds is a key priority, and curriculum for excellence is the major tool for such improvement. Last year, the raising attainment group, which comprises a number of experienced headteachers, provided me and the wider audience of every teacher in Scotland with expert advice in the area that was based on their successes in raising attainment in their schools. Their evidence, coupled with the work being developed by the Association of Directors of Education in Scotland and Education Scotland, identifies the key actions that are needed to successfully raise the attainment of all children, including the most deprived.
Recent school attainment results show a stark divide between the attainment of pupils in areas of multiple deprivation and those who are in more affluent areas. The cabinet secretary has described some of the wider issues, but will he tell us what practical steps will be taken day to day in schools to address the widening gulf?
I can do better than that; I can refer the member to the report of the attainment group, and I will be happy to provide him with a copy of it if he has not seen it. It is very simple. It is a series of questions about teaching practice and work within schools, and it seeks to ensure that every teacher is involved in the activity. The difference is made when schools, teachers and leaders in schools recognise that the attainment of pupils from the poorest backgrounds is a key issue and ensure that their school is focused on it.
Educational Attainment (Impact of Lead Exposure)
We are aware of the large body of international evidence that links lead exposure to a number of poor outcomes, including low attainment, but it is not currently possible to use official data to link individual instances of lower attainment with exposure to lead early in childhood.
Given the growing evidence about the connection between exposure to lead in early childhood and educational attainment, as well as a host of other education, health and behaviour issues, is it time that the Government agreed to conduct an assessment of the level of lead contamination of land, in particular in the vicinity of primary schools?
The member was right to point to studies that cover the effect on, for example criminal behaviour, IQ and learning disability.
College Waiting Lists (Audit)
An update for members of the Scottish Parliament on the work has been placed in the Scottish Parliament information centre today. It shows that in a large number of cases people who appear on so-called waiting lists are not, in fact, waiting for a course at all, because they have taken up another course, failed to gain the entrance qualification, moved into employment or chosen some other option.
I am sure that members look forward to the publication of the figures.
I tried to indicate to the member that he should be very careful. I have tried that so often in the Parliament. For example, I made it clear to Mr Findlay in October that the figures need to be treated with great caution. I have said the same thing to Liz Smith, to Liam McArthur and to other Labour members. However, members were determined not to listen, for reasons that are political and have nothing to do with education.
Will that new phenomenon in the information technology world, the Mike Russell app, have a calculator feature so that the cabinet secretary can keep abreast of increases in college waiting lists and provide better figures for his boss this year than he did last year?
We know that Mr Findlay’s stock-in-trade is that sort of glib rudeness—[Laughter.]
Order.
It also fulfils the classic definition of tragedy, which is something that is funny and then is no longer funny.
I never mentioned any figures.
Mr Findlay prefers to shout, he prefers to bawl and he prefers to use those figures. It would be quite useful if one day Mr Findlay learned something about education.
On a point of order, Presiding Officer. The cabinet secretary should check the Official Report because, in my question, I never quoted one figure. Perhaps he wishes to correct himself.
I do not think that that is a point of order, Mr Findlay, but you have made your point.
Higher Education (Access)
Our universities are already making progress around widening access. However, most agree that there is scope to do more.
Does the cabinet secretary agree that the requirement for universities to widen access is absolutely vital but is only part of the solution, and that more needs to be done to encourage universities to support, advise and motivate students through guidance, outreach services and greater counselling provision, so that no young person is discouraged from accessing higher education, no matter what their background or where they come from?
Our universities should widen their doors as far as they will go, but young people need the ambition and the aspiration that are required to walk through them. They also need encouragement—they do not need to be put off. In that regard, I noted some headlines this morning that were provoked by Liam McArthur and which would, essentially, put young people off wanting to go to university. The comments that motivated those headlines were very foolish. If that is liberal democracy, I am glad that it is in its death throes.
Brief questions and answers will allow us to get through more questions.
Student Debt
It is the policy of the Scottish Government that there will be no tuition fees. That has been a major factor in ensuring that, on average, student debt in Scotland is a fraction of that accrued by students elsewhere in these islands. In 2011, the average student loan debt for a Scottish student was £6,480, compared with £17,240 in England.
Given that, since tuition fees were first introduced in 1998, their maximum level has increased by 800 per cent in England and that 69 per cent of those who were on the graduate endowment scheme in Scotland are still paying back their debt, does the cabinet secretary agree that those who advocate tuition fees—either up front or by the back door—as if they would not affect student debt are quite wrong to do so?
They are absolutely and utterly wrong to do so, and I am pleased that, today, the First Minister raised the issue that a right to a free education might be seen as a basic human right and enshrined in a written constitution for Scotland. That would be a tremendous thing to do. [Laughter.] I cannot understand why two of the Tory members present are laughing at that. To laugh at basic human rights is a very strange thing to do.
Instrumental Music Tuition (Advice to Local Authorities)
The Government is setting up an instrumental music group to examine the issues around the provision of instrumental music tuition, including charges applied by local authorities. I am happy to confirm that the group will meet for the first time this month and report its findings by the summer. The Government will continue to take the issue forward in that way.
The problem with that answer is that, while the instrumental music tuition group meets, East Ayrshire Council is planning to cut 50 per cent from its budget for instrumental music tuition and Clackmannanshire Council is considering a proposal to abolish music tuition in schools altogether. Unless ministers tell councils to sustain those services while they consider how they can be improved, surely the councils’ actions simply make a mockery of ministers’ protestations in the chamber.
Iain Gray will not be too surprised to hear that I do not agree with his assessment. As I indicated, I have set up a group that will try to bring local authorities to a common position on the matter, on which it will duly report.
I am grateful to the minister for his comments and note what he says about those who wish to sit an SQA or other qualification in music. Will he make that aspect of the group’s work a priority? At the same time, will he consider whether there are enough instructors in Scotland to ensure that our young people have the access to musical tuition that we would all want?
I am sure that David Green, who convenes the group, will want to consider the availability of instructors as well as the costs. I hope that he will make recommendations on that.
University Marine Biological Station Millport
The Scottish Government has no formal role in the decisions that the University of London has made about the future of the university marine biological station Millport. However, I have spoken to the vice chancellor of the University of London to emphasise our concern about the impact of the closure decision on the community of Cumbrae, and will meet stakeholders tomorrow.
I know how hard the cabinet secretary has worked to secure the best possible future for that vital marine research facility. Will he confirm that, at tomorrow morning’s stakeholders meeting and beyond, all avenues will be explored to retain an educational institution that is crucial to marine science and the Cumbrae economy?
Yes. I pay tribute to the local member, who has worked hard on the matter and has been in regular touch with me. It is not a matter for Neil Findlay or any other Labour member to jeer at. The local member’s work has been, and continues to be, significant.
Does the cabinet secretary agree that what the Millport marine station offers students is unique, because it provides in a compact and ideal location the diverse range of marine environments that is required for the study of marine ecology? I understand that the Scottish Government has invested heavily in the marine station at the Scottish Association for Marine Science at Oban. Does he agree that the facility in Millport should also be protected, because of the diverse environment that it provides for students?
I do not agree that the Millport station is unique, because I do not think that it is unique, but I agree that it is valuable—one should not be inaccurate. The existence of SAMS at Dunstaffnage is important. There were discussions between the two institutions some years ago that did not result in a final outcome; I know that many people regret that.
Further and Higher Education (Participation)
As the member knows, participation is a complex issue that starts in early years and involves working with teachers and parents to encourage ambition. That ambition can then be realised in a system of further and higher education in which access is based on the ability to learn rather than the ability to pay. The Post-16 Education (Scotland) Bill will implement our manifesto commitment to introduce statutory widening access agreements, which will deliver more opportunities for those from poorer backgrounds.
Will the cabinet secretary outline how he plans to ensure that young people from the worst data zones in Scotland benefit from measures and how measures can be targeted towards them? Will the cut of up to £1,000 per year in student bursaries help or hinder young people in constituencies such as mine who wish to go on to study at college or university?
It would be utterly perverse to represent the best funding package in these islands as a cut of any sort. Only the Labour Party could do that in the present circumstances—no, perhaps the Tories could do that, too, as they are gifted in such misrepresentation.
English and Maths (Transition between Primary and Secondary School)
A wide range of factors can cause some young people not to achieve their potential in English and maths following the transition to secondary school. Under curriculum for excellence, reporting across schools is important to ensure well-planned and smooth transitions.
Is the minister concerned that, while the number of secondary school teachers fell by 7.6 per cent in the last three years for which figures are available, the number of maths teachers fell by 9.1 per cent and the number of English teachers fell by 10.5 per cent, which resulted in larger classes, given that the general secondary population fell by only 2.3 per cent? Does he have any regrets at all about abandoning the previous Administration’s policy of having classes of 20 for English and maths in S1 and S2?
The member will be aware that the Government makes efforts to ensure that, when subjects have a shortage of teachers, the supply need is met. The Government has stated its view about the ineffectiveness of aspects of the previous Government policy that he mentioned.
Colleges (Access for Disabled People)
As I said in answer to the first question, the Government’s key aim has been to fund the college sector in a way that allows it to maintain student numbers. I am pleased to say that we are doing so, to the benefit of all learners including those who are disabled.
A number of cases have been reported in Glasgow, including in my constituency, in which local authority departments have claimed that it is not their responsibility to pay for the personal assistants who are required for students with a physical disability to attend courses at college. That has caused huge worry and concern for those prospective students, who wish to continue with their education. Does the cabinet secretary agree that it is imperative that local authorities work to ensure that access to further education is open to all and is not limited by an unwillingness to provide the support that is necessary for students to attend?
Yes. Responsibility for a student with a disability can be and often is shared between health, social work and the education provider. It involves medical, living and teaching needs. It is in the interests of the public purse and, vitally, of the student that there is a growing together of those statutory responsibilities and that organisations work together and co-operate in a co-ordinated manner to deliver the best possible service for the person who matters, which is the learner. I would be more than happy to consider any cases in which it is felt that that is not happening and to use my good offices to try to assist.
Young Carers (Support)
We recognise the dedication of young carers and the support that they need. Due to the continued priority that we give to supporting young carers, there is now much more recognition of their needs. That is resulting in greater impetus at the local level to help to ensure identification and support in schools.
I thank the minister for that detailed answer. Issues are certainly being taken forward through the Scottish young carers services alliance in relation to support, but there are also headlines in the young carers strategy that recognise the important role of school staff in identifying and supporting young carers, and local authorities’ carers strategies should reflect that. Can the minister tell the Parliament whether there are any plans to monitor those developments during 2013 and check uniformity across local authorities and individual schools? Concern about that has been raised with me.
I know that Claudia Beamish has a real interest in the subject. I met her at the young carers festival in West Linton last year.
Teacher Training (Pupils with Additional Support Needs)
The teaching standards set by the General Teaching Council for Scotland require teachers to be able to identify and respond appropriately to pupils with difficulties in or barriers to learning. During initial teacher education, student teachers will gain sufficient knowledge of the most common additional support needs for them to be able to support the child in question themselves or, if necessary, to seek specialised information and specialised support. Teachers’ career-long contractual requirement to undertake continuing professional development provides further opportunities for them to augment what they have learned during initial teacher education.
I am grateful for that response and indeed acknowledge and recognise that some progress has been made in this area in recent times. Nonetheless, the evidence overwhelmingly points to the fact that successful detection of learning difficulties in the very earliest years makes the biggest difference to children’s life chances. To that end, is the minister able to tell me what additional resources might be available specifically for nursery and primary 1 teachers?
The member is right to highlight that early intervention is crucial to ensuring that—to use our own language—we get it right for every child. Indeed, my colleague Aileen Campbell has been busy in that respect.
Language Teaching (One-plus-two Model)
On 20 November 2012, the Scottish Government published its response to the languages working group report “Language Learning in Scotland: A 1+2 Approach”. We have accepted all of the report’s 35 recommendations, either in full or in part, and are now working with local authorities and other stakeholders to discuss and agree the next steps in taking forward our commitment to a one-plus-two languages policy, building on last year’s successful joint conference with the Association of Directors of Education in Scotland. We are providing funding for 10 pilot projects in primary and secondary schools across Scotland in the current school year to demonstrate how a one-plus-two model might best be delivered and have also earmarked £4 million for languages within funding for developing the Scottish schools curriculum to assist local authorities in taking forward the policy in 2013-14, subject to parliamentary agreement to the budget bill.
I am sure that the minister will join me in welcoming Falkirk Council education services’ support for this new model of language acquisition in Scotland. Indeed, they have now embraced the proposal for foreign language learning from primary 1; at the moment, such learning begins in P6 in most Falkirk district schools. Is the minister able to assure the chamber that, when the EU one-plus-two system is rolled out, Gaelic will be one of the locally available plus-two language options?
I certainly welcome the support that has been shown in Falkirk and evidenced in the local press for the one-plus-two model. As I have done previously, I can indeed confirm that Gaelic will be among the languages included in the project.
Question 16 has not been lodged, but an explanation has been provided.
College Courses (Students with Additional Needs)
This Government’s key aim is to fund the college sector in a way that allows it to maintain all student numbers and access and I am pleased to say that we are doing so to the benefit of all learners. The regional outcome agreements developed between the Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council and colleges will not only safeguard but promote better educational outcomes for learners with additional needs. I believe that this robust approach will ensure that the interests of this group of learners are met.
I thank the cabinet secretary for his reply, although I am concerned that he does not recognise the scale of the problem facing young students. The Scottish Consortium for Learning Disability conducted a survey in which it found that a third—in fact, more than a third—of all part-time courses for students with learning disabilities were cut last year. In the face of such figures, is the minister able to tell me exactly what powers he has and what his role and responsibilities are with regard to addressing the needs of young students with additional needs and why he is not intervening effectively to stop this situation?
Perhaps the member should have checked with the Scottish Consortium for Learning Disability before asking that question. At my meeting with the SCLD director, Lisa Curtice, and the Enable Scotland chief executive, Peter Scott, on 6 December, I talked to them about what we require to do—that was not the first meeting that I have had with them. As I indicated in my answer, both those organisations are engaging in the outcome agreement process and are ensuring that students have an opportunity to influence provision. I asked both of them to bring forward new approaches to deliver opportunities for students with learning disabilities so that this key sector is protected, and they will come back to me with those proposals. Let us unite in supporting those students, rather than divide in the way that Mr Macintosh invited us to do.