Education and Lifelong Learning
College and University Engagement with Employers
To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to encourage college and university engagement with employers following the publication of the report of the Wood commission for developing Scotland’s young workforce. (S4O-03401)
I point out that I am in the process of losing my voice, so I am sure that people will be gentle with me this afternoon, surprising as that may sound.
The Wood commission has made a number of recommendations to facilitate increased levels of interaction between education and industry. The Government agrees that such partnerships are an essential element of a more effective vocational education system and will consider the implementation of the recommendations carefully with Scotland’s education community—including universities and colleges—employers and our partners in local government.
The Skills Plus survey 2014, which was released this month, indicated that 85 per cent of employers recognise that they have a role to play in providing young people with work experience opportunities, but only 8 per cent of those surveyed feel that they are doing enough. The survey also revealed that 55 per cent of employers believe that advanced apprenticeships would have increased their participation and developed their workforce. Will the cabinet secretary initiate an immediate pilot on improved employer engagement with colleges and universities, as suggested by the survey? May I humbly suggest that the pilot be at Ayrshire College?
I always recognise a piece of special pleading when I hear one, and of course, knowing Ayrshire very well, I am sympathetic to Ayrshire College. My colleague Angela Constance announced yesterday that the Government will provide £1 million to support the establishment of regional, industry-led invest in young people groups. As their name suggests, the groups will be led by industry and will focus on establishing close links between employers and education. We will seek to involve the principal education interests in each region, in which colleges are a very important partner, particularly given their stronger regional footing.
I know that Ayrshire College makes engagement with employers a key element of its approach and has a very strong employer-led board, which was highlighted in the commission’s report. The college is always a willing and effective partner across a range of development activity. As the work on employer engagement is taken forward, the Government will seek to engage directly with the college on its potential contribution in that part of Scotland. I give the member a qualified yes.
European Regional Development Funding (Former Langside College)
To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with the Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council regarding the European regional development funding that was given to the Woodburn house site of the former Langside College. (S4O-03402)
I acknowledge that the member has pursued this matter over a long period of time. I have to tell him that the Government is not in discussion with the Scottish funding council regarding the European regional development fund contribution to Woodburn house. However, we are discussing what is a complex historical case with the European Commission before engaging with the Scottish funding council.
As the cabinet secretary is aware, I first raised the issue in November last year and he agreed to investigate in January. Since that time, Woodburn house has actually been demolished. Why has it taken so long for me to receive an answer to my query? When will I receive an answer? Does the issue of European regional development funding to education establishments affect any other sites in Scotland?
I am happy to write to the member with the detail of the case, which was and remains a complex issue. It relates to the funding of Woodburn house to provide additional training facilities—the funding came from the western Scotland European regional development fund programme 1997 to 1999, which was before the Parliament was in existence. There has been a community reaction to the college’s decision to sell the land and building for development—I realise that the local member knows that and is representing that view.
However, under Commission guidance in relation to article 24 of Council regulation 2082/93, it is necessary for us to look at the conditions for the reduction or suspension of assistance in operations where irregularities or significant changes
“affecting the nature or conditions for the implementation of the operation”
have been detected during the programme.
This is one of those issues. The question relates to whether any repayment would be due. Until we have settled that, it is not possible to give the member a conclusive answer. However, because he has a strong interest in the issue and has taken it forward, I make a commitment that we will keep him informed. If there is significant information, we will provide it to him.
Improving Regional Economic Activity (Education)
To ask the Scottish Government what strategic contribution education can make to improving regional economic activity. (S4O-03403)
Education has a key role in improving regional economic activity by ensuring that all our young people can contribute to and benefit from a strong economy. Our ambitions for economic growth will not be realised without a higher level of employment among young people. As the commission for developing Scotland’s young workforce recognised, the curriculum for excellence, college reform and the modern apprenticeship programme provide a strong foundation for ensuring that young people are equipped with the skills for learning, life and work. The Cabinet Secretary for Training, Youth and Women’s Employment has welcomed the Wood commission’s landmark report and yesterday made a statement in which she committed to working in partnership to take forward its ambitious agenda.
I thank the cabinet secretary for that comprehensive response. He will be aware that Dumfries and Galloway has an unusually low level of qualifications in the workforce. In light of that, what strategic consideration is the Government giving to improving the situation through working in partnership with others at local and national level and in light of the Wood commission report?
As a former representative of the South of Scotland, I know that Dumfries and Galloway has an unusually low level of qualifications in the workforce. That is why there has been significant investment in the Crichton site to ensure that there are a number of institutions of strength and significance in one place, building real momentum. The Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council and local authority education departments are working with colleges and schools in six early adopter regions for Wood, including Dumfries and Galloway, to increase the range and scale of vocational pathway opportunities for young people. We need to ensure that there is good partnership working. We need to bring in Skills Development Scotland and ensure that there are more vocational options for young people and a focus on the STEM—science, technology, engineering and mathematics—subjects. We also need the strong, committed, principled and willing buy-in of the local authority to make that happen.
Fife Schools Maintenance Backlog
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to address the estimated backlog of over £72 million for necessary school maintenance costs in Fife. (S4O-03404)
As the member will be aware, the maintenance of school buildings is the statutory responsibility of local authorities in Scotland, as defined by section 17 of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980. It is the responsibility of individual local authorities to manage their budgets and to allocate the total financial resources that are available to them on the basis of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities.
The vast majority of that funding, including any money for schools maintenance, is provided by means of a block grant. However, Fife Council was also awarded £19.4 million for the replacement Auchmuty high school building, which opened in August 2013, and will be awarded a further £23 million to replace the existing Buckhaven and Kirkland high school buildings over the next few years.
The minister will be aware that, in a written question, I asked the Scottish Government for an update on the maintenance needs of the school estate across Scotland, the response to which said that the Scottish Government does not hold information at that level. I have since contacted local authorities across Scotland and, to date, I have had responses from seven of them. Tallying up the maintenance needs of those seven authorities, I see that the figure comes to some £481 million. Does the minister not accept that our school estate across Scotland is in dire need of investment and that many schools out there need investment now? Will he not accept some responsibility and get into dialogue with local authorities to look at the maintenance needs of our school estate across Scotland?
As the member is the former council leader in the area concerned, he will be more than aware that it is the statutory responsibility of Fife Council to maintain its schools and that, under the 1980 act, it has never been the legal responsibility of this or any previous Government to maintain schools. As I have indicated, this Government has fulfilled our ambitions when it comes to building, rebuilding and refurbishing schools—I have mentioned two in Fife that I have had the pleasure of visiting. The member cannot escape the statutory responsibility of the council of which he was leader for maintaining buildings.
Can the minister confirm how much the Scottish Government has invested in the Scotland’s schools for the future programme, notwithstanding the swingeing Westminster cuts that have been made to Scotland’s budget?
As I indicated, the Government’s responsibility relates to rebuilding schools. We have fulfilled that responsibility or priority. The Government is investing £800 million in the £1.25 billion Scotland’s schools for the future programme, with the remainder coming from local authorities. Across the country, 67 new schools will be built for around 46,000 pupils, with at least one new school project in every local authority area—and there are two in Fife. All the new schools will be open to pupils by March 2018.
Relationships, Sexual Health and Parenthood Education (Guidance)
To ask the Scottish Government when it will produce the final version of its guidance on relationships, sexual health and parenthood education and whether the right to be properly informed with the knowledge to make safe, healthy and positive choices will be an integral part of the document. (S4O-03405)
We received a wide range of responses to the engagement on the draft guidance and will publish finalised guidance later this year. We fully recognise the importance of the guidance and want to ensure that we strike the right balance. The majority of comments made in feedback were in relation to teachers, children and young people on issues of conscience, and on the parental right of withdrawal from specific lessons on sexual health education. These are issues on which strong opinions are held and it is important that time is taken to develop guidance that addresses the issues in a sensitive way.
It is now pretty much globally accepted that the evidence shows that good-quality education about sex, sexuality, sexual health and emotional wellbeing is crucial to encouraging positive, healthy choices among young people as well as protecting them from coercion, sexual abuse and exploitation. Does the Government accept the scale of that body of global evidence? Will it commit to ensuring that that principle is followed through for all young people in all schools—denominational and non-denominational—and will it agree to meet organisations with a specific interest, such as Barnardo’s Scotland and LGBT Youth Scotland, before it finalises the document?
The Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 makes a legislative commitment to wellbeing. It is far from the case that we are establishing high-quality education in these matters, because that is already established in Scotland and is under way. We now need to ensure that, as the guidance changes in the light of legislative and societal changes, we make changes in a consultative way that takes people with us, not in a confrontational way that loses people.
I have always been willing to meet groups right across the spectrum, and I maintain that willingness. Patrick Harvie knows that I have met those groups before and I will do so again. We must ensure that we have, as far as possible, an agreed way forward, not a confrontational way forward.
Gypsy Travellers (Education)
To ask the Scottish Government what assistance it provides to local authorities for the education of Gypsy Travellers. (S4O-03406)
The Scottish Government provides core funding to the Scottish Traveller education programme, whose role includes the provision of advice and support for both families and professionals. Within STEP’s remit was the production of guidance for local authorities, schools and support services, which was entitled “Inclusive Education: Approaches for Scotland’s Travelling Communities within the context of interrupted learning”. The guidance was published in March 2011 and was disseminated through the Traveller education network, of which 22 Scottish local authorities are members. That resource is now available online through Education Scotland.
Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education also produced a publication in 2005 entitled “Taking a closer look at: Inclusion and Equality—meeting the needs of Gypsies and Travellers”, which built on the self-evaluation guidance that is given in “How good is our school?” The guide can be used by schools to evaluate the quality of their approaches to inclusion and equality in relation to Gypsy Travellers and to provide examples of best practice.
I am grateful to the minister for that detailed response. The minister is aware of the level of disengagement that there is with the educational process among the Gypsy Traveller community. That is particularly the case in secondary education and it is particularly the case with young men. Will he look at ways of having contact with the Gypsy Traveller community to explore how to ensure that their lifestyle is supported by education rather than the education system excluding them?
The member is right to point out the very specific needs of the Traveller community. Of course, the Scottish education system and the curriculum for excellence are founded on the idea that all children, regardless of their ethnic group or their background, have a right to an education that meets their needs and to a system that is flexible enough to cope with their needs rather than demanding that they conform to it. Institutions such as the Traveller education network have done a great deal to promote that further understanding and to ensure that we all listen to the very specific concerns that that community rightly made clear.
Rural Schools (Protection from Closure)
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to protect from closure those schools classified as rural. (S4O-03407)
The Government is committed to protecting rural schools and that is why we have strengthened the Schools (Consultation) (Scotland) Act 2010 to establish more rigorous and specific requirements before a local authority may propose closing a school. We will also improve the arrangements for all school closure proposals, requiring that they reach high standards of transparency and accuracy and protect schools from recurring closure consultations. Those changes will be brought into force on 1 August 2014.
In my constituency, there are three such rural schools: Banton primary school; Holy Cross primary school in Croy; and Chapelgreen primary school in Queenzieburn. In a survey that I conducted in the three villages, 92 per cent of people supported the policy of a presumption against the closure of rural schools. Does the minister share my disappointment that Labour-run North Lanarkshire Council refused to back that policy, going so far as to vote against the motion to support the policy that was lodged by the Scottish National Party councillors in North Lanarkshire?
Although I cannot comment on individual schools, as the member will know, I share his disappointment that not everyone has shared this Government’s commitment to strengthening the legislation. North Lanarkshire Council must certainly explain its own position on that, but I believe and the Government believes that no rural school should be without the protection of the 2010 act. We certainly do not believe that no rural school should ever close—sometimes that is necessary—but it is important that education authorities demonstrate careful consideration before proposing a rural school closure at each stage and that that leads to a decision that is based on an understanding of the needs of the community.
Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council (Meetings)
To ask the Scottish Government when it last met the Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council and what issues were discussed. (S4O-03408)
Scottish Government officials meet the Scottish funding council regularly to discuss matters relating to universities and colleges. The last strategic liaison meeting between the Scottish Government and SFC officials was on 27 May. In addition to that, I meet the chair and the chief executive of the Scottish funding council quarterly to discuss strategic priorities and progress. The most recent meeting with them took place on 5 March, with the next meeting being scheduled for 7 August.
The cabinet secretary may be aware of Fife College’s decision to replace the adult programme courses with a two-year community skills course. Concerns have been raised with me that, for more than 100 students who have additional support needs and who currently benefit from non-certificated courses, the new course will not meet their needs and they will be excluded from college opportunities and the related social and educational benefits. What direction does the cabinet secretary give to the Scottish funding council regarding educational opportunities for adults with additional support needs within the college sector and does he recognise that the reduction in non-certificated courses is having an adverse impact on people who have additional support needs?
There are two parts to that question. I certainly believe that the college sector should be encouraged to work right across the community to provide opportunity for all who come to colleges, including those with additional needs, who require to be accommodated in and supported by colleges.
However, I do not agree with the second part. Certificated courses are vital and important for all those who come to colleges, and it is important that we look at the ways in which we can provide those opportunities even to those who are most distant from learning.
Claire Baker may have raised the issue with Fife College, which would be the right thing to do. The principal and the chair of the board are open and approachable on all matters. She may also raise the issue formally with me, and I will raise it with the college if she gives me the details of the case. Fife College, like all our colleges, endeavours to ensure that all young and older people in its area are given every opportunity, and I am sure that it is operating in that way.
Student Associations
To ask the Scottish Government how it encourages the establishment of student associations, and how many have been set up since the Post-16 Education (Scotland) Act 2013 came into force. (S4O-03409)
Student associations are vital to ensuring that colleges and universities deliver the best possible experience for students. The Post-16 Education (Scotland) Act 2013 recognises the need for universities and colleges to have a student association that represents the interests of their student population.
We continually seek opportunities to work with the Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council, the National Union of Students Scotland and other key stakeholders to ensure that a strong body of student associations exists throughout Scotland.
What work is being done to ensure that every college has an efficient, democratic and active student association that is appropriately represented at board level, as opposed to the situation that existed in some instances pre-reform in which the student voice was hand-picked by management?
That is a very good question. A variety of actions is being undertaken. For example, two weeks ago I met the outgoing student president for Edinburgh College, Kelly Parry, to talk about a range of issues, including the need for wider representation throughout Scotland by ensuring that every college has a student association that operates effectively.
At the young voters event on Friday, I met two student presidents and I made a commitment—indeed, I offered to meet all the student presidents at an appropriate time—to talk to them about the work that they are doing and any issues of concern, including the welfare cuts coming from Westminster.
I am pleased that the 2013 act has ensured an increase in the number of student members on a college board from one to two. That increase has already happened in the 10 single college regions and it will occur in other regions when the new regional arrangements are put in place, on 1 August for Glasgow and the Highlands and Islands and on 1 October for Lanarkshire.
Musical Instrument Tuition in Schools
To ask the Scottish Government what importance it attaches to musical instrument tuition in schools. (S4O-03410)
We attach great importance to instrumental music tuition in schools. In late 2012, we announced the setting up of an instrumental music group under the chairmanship of David Green. The group reported in June 2013 and made 17 recommendations, which were all accepted in full or in part by the Government.
In November 2013, we established the instrumental music implementation group, again under David Green’s leadership. That group has been working hard to take forward the recommendations and developing more support for local authorities.
The minister will recognise, as I do, that musical skills are not the only aspect of instrumental skills, which also bring some very real social benefits.
It seems that local authorities continue to find musical instrument tuition to be an easy budget to prune. I recognise their financial circumstances, but does the minister share my concern that we might be going back to a situation in which instrumental skills are the preserve of the rich?
It would certainly be disappointing if any local authority were to take that attitude. There has been a good degree of consensus between local authorities and the Government throughout David Green’s activities to ensure that we do not create or maintain a situation in which instrumental music tuition is the preserve of any one social group.
It is important that David Green has, for the first time, put together a national vision for instrumental music tuition to ensure that we give it the place that it deserves in our education system. It is worth noting that, over the past 11 years, the Scottish Government has put £97 million into the youth music initiative, which is designed to ensure that instrumental music is available to the widest possible group of young people.
I welcome the new vision—and, indeed, David Green’s recommendations—but does it include access to bagpipe tuition? I note that in some local authority areas bagpipe lessons are offered in every secondary school, whereas in others such lessons can be offered in less than a quarter of schools.
The member will be pleased to note that I share her enthusiasm for bagpipes. Although the report does not specify individual musical instruments, it encourages local authorities to take cognisance of local musical traditions and ensure that they are respected and promoted.
Is the minister willing to come to my constituency and look at a bagpipes project that has been set up in primary schools by the local area committee? If people are to continue to play bagpipes and if pipe bands are to continue to be part of Scotland’s heritage and communities, we need to take the issue into the primary schools. I would very much welcome it if the minister came and looked at the project.
I am more than happy to take up the member’s invitation, and I take this opportunity to praise the National Piping Centre and the other organisations that work with schools and young people in this area.
Excellent.
Getting it Right for Every Child (Additional Support Needs Monitoring)
To ask the Scottish Government how it monitors the application in schools of getting it right for every child for children who require additional support. (S4O-03411)
Education Scotland monitors the application of GIRFEC through its inspection programme. The current inspection framework “How Good is our School 3?” includes a focus on the wellbeing indicators in quality indicator 2.1, on learners’ experiences, as well as consideration of the implementation of GIRFEC approaches through QI 5.3, on meeting learning needs. Education Scotland is also supporting schools to develop a shared understanding of GIRFEC and to introduce the self-evaluation tool that has been developed in partnership with the Scottish Government.
The implementation of the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act is monitored through the routine inspection of schools. Furthermore, the Scottish ministers report each year to the Scottish Parliament on the act’s implementation, and that report contains annual statistics and practice information relating to additional support for learning.
Parents of children with additional support needs have raised with me concerns that Aberdeen City Council, which has no autism strategy, is not getting it right for their children. Do the inspection bodies inspect the education of children with such needs, and are specific audits undertaken on whether authorities are applying the GIRFEC principles to those children?
In its inspections, Education Scotland places a priority on how well schools and services meet the needs of children with additional support needs and considers how GIRFEC approaches are being implemented. Her Majesty’s inspectors take account of that provision in their evaluation of quality indicators, all of which have specific themes that are linked to additional support needs and those who are at risk of missing out. In every inspection, we are informed about the number of young people with additional support needs and the nature of those needs. Education Scotland also inspects special schools and units in which all children and young people have additional support needs, including complex needs.
Moreover, Education Scotland has resources available through our learning trails, which are professional development packs that are used to meet the needs of specific groups of children, including those with autism. I am, of course, happy to meet and liaise with the member, if required, to help his constituents. The E in GIRFEC stands for “every”, and we must ensure that every child in Scotland gets the support that they need.
Attainment Gap (Boys and Girls)
To ask the Scottish Government how it will address the attainment gap between girls and boys identified in the 2014 edition of “Summary statistics for attainment, leaver destinations and healthy living”. (S4O-03412)
Since 2007, the attainment of both boys and girls has risen significantly, although the gap between boys and girls remains. However, over the same period, the gap in positive destinations has narrowed from 3 percentage points in 2007 to 2.4 in 2012-13—a small, but significant, change.
Together with all our partners, the Scottish Government shares a strong commitment to driving improvement and ensuring equity in attainment, including addressing any gender-based differences, to ensure that all our children and young people achieve their full potential. That is reflected in all our key policies and programmes, including curriculum for excellence, teaching Scotland’s future, getting it right for every child, the early years framework and opportunities for all.
We are working to ensure that teachers and school leaders have the right skills and experience in the right numbers to deliver these improved outcomes for all children and young people, and the range of integrated policies and programmes will help realise our ambition of making Scotland the best place for all children to learn. Of course, the member will realise that only with the full powers of independence will we truly be able to do everything we can to reduce poverty and finally close the attainment gap.
I thank the cabinet secretary for that distressed response, for which his fading voice might have been given a rest latterly.
It is disturbing that, for the fifth consecutive year, the gulf in attainment between girls and boys has widened still further. Moreover, statistics that were released last week highlighted that, as a stand-alone ethnic group, “white, Scottish males” were outperformed by all female ethnic groups and by every other male group with one exception. I am sure that the cabinet secretary will agree that, in the short run, never mind the medium run and the long run, that is far from sustainable, so what does he intend to do about it, other than give a little dose of wishful thinking, which was his response a moment ago?
The truth is true, no matter how quietly it is said.
The reality is that attainment is improving and that it continues to improve, but the radical improvement in attainment that we wish to see cannot come without the full powers of a normal Parliament. [Interruption.] Labour members are crying out; they should be crying out against poverty and its effects and the fact that how a person does in school is often determined by where they come from. In order to eliminate that, we need to bear down on poverty.
The Scottish Government has made considerable progress in closing the attainment gap with the tools that it has, but it needs all the tools to do the job. [Interruption.]
Order.
No amount of shouting from Labour or the Conservatives will dispel that absolute truth.
The cabinet secretary is right. Attainment is improving, and it is improving for care leavers, but only at half the pace that it is for all other schoolchildren. What specific work is the cabinet secretary doing to improve the educational attainment of looked-after children across Scotland?
Some very good work is being done. The member will know that that has been a long and persistent problem in Scotland. It has been tackled in a number of different ways.
I pay tribute to the work that has been done by Glasgow City Council, for example. It has worked with a number of special projects to focus down on individual children and help them to attain. That model, which is being increasingly used in secondary schools across Scotland, involves taking pupils who have the biggest difficulties and the greatest barriers to learning—they are often looked-after children—and ensuring that those are attended to.
Last week, I spoke at the next stage of the pathfinder project that is looking at closing the attainment gap. A hundred secondary schools were represented. I have visited three of the six first pathfinders and have seen in those schools an attention to data and detail in dealing with individual young people that transforms their and the school’s outcomes. Those are exciting projects, and I would welcome the member having the opportunity to see them in action and to realise that, by focusing on individual children, including looked-after children, there can be dramatic and very fast improvements in performance.
The cabinet secretary will be aware that there have been a number of reports recently in relation to closing the attainment gap. Earlier this week, the author of one of those reports—the Joseph Rowntree Foundation—met the Education and Culture Committee. As well as making it clear that although funding is important it is not sufficient, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation pointed to the benefits of having Education Scotland focusing on the performance of schools in closing the attainment gap as part of the inspection regime and the benefits that would arise from taking a pupil premium approach that is similar to that taken south of the border. Is the cabinet secretary open to those two ideas?
Education Scotland is already taking a focused approach, and it has been a key partner in the process of looking at improving schools and the improvement methodology. It will continue to be so.
I am glad that the member accepts my argument that resources are important and that the full resources that are likely to be available for the task can come only from the Scottish Parliament having full fiscal powers.
Childcare Expansion (Publicity)
To ask the Scottish Government how it is publicising to parents the expansion of childcare provision. (S4O-03413)
The Scottish Government is developing public information materials to raise awareness of the increased funded hours of early learning and childcare and extended eligibility for vulnerable two-year-olds.
Following yesterday’s Education and Culture Committee’s evidence session, the minister was unable to tell us just how many of the 3,440 cohort of vulnerable children from workless families would be guaranteed childcare from August. Will the minister put on record that number and say when the Scottish Government’s expects the relevant information to be publicised to parents?
As I said yesterday in the committee, local authorities are making progress every day and the picture of what is in place will continue to change in the lead-up to implementation. We know that local authorities are working very hard, as we are in the Scottish Government, to ensure that the implementation of the expanded provision is successful. It is important to remember—I made this point yesterday—that the decision to delay the legal enforcement is to allow local authorities to have that transitionary flexibility.
I wonder, with the continual negativity around the proposal, whether the Conservatives are against the expansion of childcare, which is in stark contrast to their Conservative colleagues across local government. [Interruption.]
Order.
Indeed, all parties across local government are working very hard to ensure that the expansion to childcare provision that we announced in January is successfully implemented. That will benefit children’s lives; it will help families across the country. We should all get behind the proposal to ensure that it is successfully implemented once it comes into force in August.
University of the West of Scotland Crichton Campus (Visits)
To ask the Scottish Government when the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning last visited the Crichton campus in Dumfries and what was discussed. (S4O-03414)
I visited the Crichton campus on 12 May to meet staff and students of the University of the West of Scotland. I also met Donald MacKinnon, who was relinquishing his post in the Crichton Development Company, and I wished him well.
During my visit, I heard about the excellent work that everyone on the campus is doing as part of the unique, collaborative and successful academic partnership at the Crichton.
Does the cabinet secretary agree that a students association serving the students of Dumfries and Galloway College, the University of the West of Scotland, the University of Glasgow and Scotland’s Rural College would be an excellent way to take forward the joint working that he described takes place on the campus?
The member is absolutely right. I have been a long-standing supporter of ensuring not only that there is a single students association on the site—that would be a very big step forward, and I know that there is already a shared association—but that it has premises from which to work.
It is important on the Crichton site—the site has the widest diversity of students—that students have somewhere that they can call their own and that they can use for social and other activities. I would be very keen for such a proposal to come forward. I hope that the Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council might look sympathetically on such a proposal and that the partner agencies in the Crichton would see that as a very important next step.
Geology (Curriculum for Excellence)
To ask the Scottish Government what opportunities there are in the curriculum for excellence to study geology. (S4O-03415)
The Scottish Government recognises the importance of geological and earth science study to the curriculum and to the Scottish economy.
The curriculum for excellence framework enables young people to undertake earth science learning in science and social studies curriculum areas. Learners will be able to develop an understanding of the formation, characteristics and uses of the earth’s natural resources and landscape.
The new national qualifications include aspects of earth science in chemistry, physics, geography, science and environmental science courses.
Scotland produced the father of geology, James Hutton, and there is a great tradition of studying geology here. Will the minister confirm that a student unable to study geology at higher level would still be able to take up geology at further and higher education levels by studying geography or other science subjects?
I offer that reassurance. Higher geology is not a mandatory requirement for entry into earth science courses at university: highers in a range of subjects are used as a minimum entry requirement for those wishing to study geology.
Dumfries and Galloway Council Director of Education (Meetings)
To ask the Scottish Government when it last met Dumfries and Galloway Council’s director of education and what matters were discussed. (S4O-03416)
Education Scotland’s area lead officer has regular meetings with the director of education. The area lead officer last met the director of education on 1 May. At this meeting a range of topics were discussed, including a tailored package of support, which will form part of the local partnership agreement between Dumfries and Galloway Council and Education Scotland.
I imagine that the cabinet secretary and his officials will have had some discussions over the financing and siting of the proposed new education hub in Dumfries. Does he agree that it would preferable for a full evaluation of alternative sites for the education hub to take place before any final decision is taken to locate it at the King George V playing field?
I agree with the member. There are a number of potential sites, but if we are to make sure that there is no duplication, that the college’s resources are fully utilised and, for example, that there can be participation in a potential students association—as well as taking into account past investment in the Crichton site—it is extraordinary that that site seems to have been rejected already.
I urge the council to work in partnership with the Scottish Government because we would like to see good implementation taking place in Dumfries and Galloway as one of the pilot areas. I am sure that we could do so. Unfortunately, a decision to spend money in a wasteful way would not help that.
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