- Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 07 April 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Maureen Watt on 16 April 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how many times ministers have met COSLA to discuss teacher numbers since June 2007.
Answer
Ministers meet COSLA regularly to discuss a number of issues.
- Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 13 March 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Maureen Watt on 20 March 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what the average salary is for primary school deputy headteachers, broken down by local authority.
Answer
This information is not collated centrally. All depute head teacher posts are allocated a specific salary point on the common pay spine for both head teachers and deputes. Salaries for depute head teachers in all sectors of school education are determined on an individual basis in line with the responsibilities of the post.
- Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 13 March 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Maureen Watt on 20 March 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what the average salary is for primary school headteachers, broken down by local authority.
Answer
This information is not collated centrally. All head teacher posts are allocated a specific salary point on the common pay spine for both head teachers and deputes. Salaries for head teachers in all sectors of school education are determined on an individual basis in line with the responsibilities of the post.
- Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 22 February 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Maureen Watt on 11 March 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the comments of the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning on 30 January 2008 that “we want to ensure that Scottish history is taught in our schools, but it is not just history teachers who can teach it” (Official Report, c. 5622), whether her remarks refer only to primary schools.
Answer
Teachers should have the appropriate professional skills and knowledge necessary to enable them to undertake the teaching duties allocated to them and this is reflected in the current Regulations.
Subject expertise is a strength of the Scottish Education system. Teachers with a sound knowledge of their subject provide exciting, engaging and relevant experiences for young people. Curriculum for Excellence will also require all teachers and other staff to make connections between areas of learning, including through interdisciplinary studies so that young people are taught with a broad understanding of the curriculum as a whole and can see the links between and the relevance of different aspects of learning. This means that the subject of history will continue to be taught by qualified teachers and that in addition to this for example, the history of Scottish science could also be taught in science.
- Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 22 February 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Maureen Watt on 11 March 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the comments of the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning on 30 January 2008 that “we want to ensure that Scottish history is taught in our schools, but it is not just history teachers who can teach it” (Official Report, c. 5622), whether she believes that only qualified teachers of history should teach history in high schools.
Answer
Teachers should have the appropriate professional skills and knowledge necessary to enable them to undertake the teaching duties allocated to them and this is reflected in the current Regulations.
Subject expertise is a strength of the Scottish Education system. Teachers with a sound knowledge of their subject provide exciting, engaging and relevant experiences for young people. Curriculum for Excellence will also require all teachers and other staff to make connections between areas of learning, including through interdisciplinary studies so that young people are taught with a broad understanding of the curriculum as a whole and can see the links between and the relevance of different aspects of learning. This means that the subject of history will continue to be taught by qualified history teachers and that in addition to this for example, the history of Scottish science could also be taught in science.>
- Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 February 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 10 March 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will submit a response to the consultation on the Health Care and Associated Professions (Miscellaneous Amendments) No 2 Order 2008.
Answer
No. That would not be appropriate as this is a joint consultation issued on behalf of the Scottish Government and the UK Government.
- Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 February 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 10 March 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what work has been done in Scotland to ensure that psychologists, including educational psychologists, are aware of the consultation paper on the Health Care and Associated Professions (Miscellaneous Amendments) No 2 Order 2008.
Answer
The Department of Health in England issued this consultation paper across the UK, including on behalf of the Scottish Government. To supplement the Department of Health lists, we provided lists of Scottish consultees, including NHS boards, local authorities, the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, the Scottish Parliament and members of the Scottish Groups currently taking forward the implementation in Scotland of the White Paper,
Trust, Assurance and Safety: The Regulation of Health Professionals in the 21st Century. Scottish Implementation Group members were drawn from a wide spectrum of Scottish stakeholders, including the independent sector, following a series of stakeholder events on white paper policies for future regulation.
I understand the UK bodies on the Department of Health''s consultation list included the British Psychological Society and the Association of Educational Psychologists, both of which represent their respective interests across the whole of the UK.
Regulation has also been discussed with education officials at various meetings with Scottish educational psychologists. The consultation closes on 22 March.
- Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 February 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 6 March 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it believes that educational psychologists should be regulated by the Health Professions Council.
Answer
The White Paper
Trust, Assurance and Safety - The Regulation of Health Professionals in the 21st Century, published in February 2007 and endorsed by all four UK countries, confirmed that, with the exception of the new pharmacy regulator, no new statutory regulators will be established. It also confirmed that psychologists will be regulated by the Health Professions Council.
Whether educational psychologists should be one of the domains of practitioner psychologist to be regulated by the Health Professions Council is a matter currently being consulted on across the UK, including on behalf of the Scottish ministers. The consultation paper on the draft Health Care and Associated Professions (Miscellaneous Amendments) (No. 2) Order 2008 confirms the seven domains considered to fit within the definition of practitioner psychologist, and asks whether all them should be statutorily regulated by the Health Professions Council and, if not, which domains should not. The consultation concludes on 22 March 2008, following which the responses will be considered for the final version of the draft Order to be laid for approval by resolution of both the Scottish Parliament and Westminster.
- Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 22 February 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Maureen Watt on 6 March 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what action the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning is taking to ensure that the new draft experiences and outcomes in social studies is not used to allow more teachers with no qualifications or expertise in history to teach history.
Answer
The Requirements for Teachers (Scotland) Regulations 2005 place a requirement on local authorities to employ adequate numbers of teachers with the appropriate professional skills and knowledge necessary to enable those teachers to undertake the teaching duties to which they are assigned. The draft experiences and outcomes in social studies, or any other curricular areas, will not alter this position.
- Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 22 February 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Maureen Watt on 6 March 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether, under the new Curriculum for Excellence and with the publication of the draft experiences and outcomes in social studies, only qualified teachers of history will be able to teach history.
Answer
There are no plans to change the current position under the Requirements for Teachers (Scotland) Regulations 2005 which impose a duty on education authorities to employ adequate numbers of teachers with the appropriate professional skills and knowledge necessary to enable those teachers to undertake the teaching duties allocated to them.