Chamber and committees

I, too, congratulate Stuart McMillan on securing the debate. I believe that to live in Scotland is to live in history. History is the story of us, had we been born a wee bit earlier. Teaching Scottish history in schools helps us to understand Scotland’s place in the world, showing how past decisions still influence and shape our choices today.

To illustrate Scotland’s living history, there is no better place to start than my constituency of Uddingston and Bellshill, which was the birthplace of the Scottish trade unionist and supporter of home rule James Keir Hardie. That proud legacy has shaped my politics and still links my community to those fiercely progressive views today, more than 100 years after his death.

Scotland has forged a formidable history, with an influence and legacy that reaches well beyond our shores, from noble clansmen and powerful monarchs to enlightenment philosophers and world-famous engineers and scientists. We are a nation that survived and thrived on the kindness and hospitality of our neighbours and kinfolk, yet we are also a nation that experienced the shocking abuse of traditional hospitality that led to the dreadful massacre at Glencoe in 1692.

Our history is at once global and indigenous, with a mix of kinship and conflict. History in schools allows our young people to explore the associations between the local, the national and the global. Our lives and our histories are also shaped by a sense of place, and I applaud history teachers who have taken learning from the classroom into the local community by forging innovative links with local organisations, including museums and historical societies. It takes partnership to deliver a truly inclusive curriculum, and forging and strengthening those partnerships lifts history teaching beyond textbooks. It has the potential to elicit new and important information about who we are and where we come from.

I also commend the efforts of organisations in my constituency that are working to that end, including Hamilton Mausoleum Trust, the Low Parks museum, Bothwell castle and the Lanarkshire Family History Society. Another good example is the wonderful online multimedia archive Colourful Heritage. Its work with local schools has uncovered the heritage stories of Muslim and south Asian immigrants to Scotland. It also includes a fascinating account of the provenance and set-up of the New Stevenston mosque in my constituency, which work was led by long-time resident of Holytown Ghulam Saqlain Siddiquie.

Earlier, I said that to live in Scotland is to live in history. For me, and as others have mentioned, that includes ensuring teaching of our nation’s darkest historical moments, particularly our significant involvement in the abhorrent transatlantic slave trade, as well as Scotland’s part in the often brutal legacy of the British empire. It is clear that without such knowledge we cannot fully understand our country’s place in the world and why we live the way we do today.

History will always be a source of debate over whose stories to tell, which is how it should be. However, schools and local historians need to be in it together, working towards an understanding of not only history at large but diverse traditions and communities that have never been properly recognised and remembered.

Learning through history, specifically local history, has immense potential to help to meet the aims of Scotland’s curriculum for excellence. As we strive to develop the four fundamental curriculum capacities that we want to see in our children—successful learners, confident individuals, responsible citizens and effective contributors—the key is exercising flexibility to keep learning meaningful, accessible and enjoyable.

Let us bring the gripping narratives of Scotland’s past alive to makes sense of our world today and inspire the next generation of Scots to become the responsible and ethical leaders of tomorrow, locally, nationally and globally.

That is great. It is really helpful.

On the idea of having a wider focus, are you going to be looking at the need for qualitative data in education?

I have a couple of different questions. One is on free school meals and another is on qualitative data.

On free school meals, I am delighted with the £72 million investment and the £22 million for school holiday clubs, although it is a bit concerning to hear that there is expected to be a 5.2 per cent real-terms reduction next year. I trust that those things will now be prioritised.

On the school holiday money, we know that part of the thinking behind having free school meals for primary children is the fact that it increases uptake among the most vulnerable children and it reduces the stigma.

This is a point for clarification. North Lanarkshire Council and South Lanarkshire Council have approached this differently. North Lanarkshire Council is running its holiday lunch time clubs only for those children who currently get free school meals, whereas South Lanarkshire Council’s clubs are open to everyone. I would like some clarity on the funding for the school holidays. Is it expected to cover all children, or is it specifically for vulnerable children?

My question follows on from Fergus Ewing mentioning children and young people with additional support needs, including those with neurodiversity. The Morgan review and other evidence that we have heard suggested that the focus often ends up being on children and young people who present with challenging behaviour, and that that is sometimes at the expense of other children in the class, who might also have additional support needs but do not present such behaviours. Can you provide any reassurance that that will be addressed?

There have certainly been some challenging questions for you about the education budget, cabinet secretary—sadly, not always expressed in the most polite way. Can you comment on the importance of the wider policies such as the Scottish child payment, which are outwith education but which are critical to our attempts to address the poverty-related attainment gap in the longer term, particularly with the UK Government reducing universal credit at the moment? It would be good to hear some assurance that you will be arguing passionately that those wider policies that impact educational achievement will be prioritised at Cabinet level and beyond.

It would be interesting to see whether a bit of work could be undertaken on the local authorities that have gone a bit further, to determine whether demand has increased hugely in those areas.

I will move on to my second question. It is good to see what you wrote in your letter, in response to the convener’s letter, about respecting

“the need for stronger national and local data”

across

“all the four capacities”

for curriculum for excellence. You also mention the

“short-life sub-group of the curriculum and assessment board ... to explore options for a sample-based survey”.

I am really interested in the stuff about the quality of data, which has come up often across the different strands that we are considering. Can you expand on that further, or can you say something about the idea of considering that more widely than just the curriculum for excellence stuff?

What steps has the Scottish Government taken to assist those suffering from long Covid, particularly our front-line health professionals, to return to work?

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on this year’s review of the justice vision and priorities delivery plan. (S6O-00563)

The report made us aware of the impact of Covid-19 on the justice sector. What steps has the Scottish Government taken to help the sector and its recovery from the pandemic?