ALL pupils in Scotland will have access to courses in Scottish history and culture - if the SNP forms the next administration.
Michael Russell, the party’s education spokesperson, told the annual conference in Inverness this week that this would not be an optional extra “but part of the normal process of education - normal, that is, in every country in the world except Scotland”.
Mr Russell also repeated pledges on reducing primary class sizes and offering vocational courses to all S3 and S4 pupils in a “unique partnership” between schools and further education colleges.
As well as Catholic schools, delegates backed Gaelic-medium schools, “e-schools”, state funding for Steiner schools, centres for the gifted in the arts and sport and a right to home education.
Mr Russell mounted a strong attack on Labour’s record, citing its five education ministers in five years - “and not an idea among any of them except to move on to the next job”.