Teachers could get more powers to search pupils suspected of carrying weapons following an inquiry into the fatal stabbing of 16-year-old Bailey Gwynne. The final report of the inquiry recommends that the Scottish government look at changing the law to allow school staff to search pupils without their consent. The report by child protection expert Andrew Lowe says that the conflict between pupils, which ultimately led to Bailey’s death, at Cults Academy in Aberdeen emerged rapidly out of “unexceptional banter” and it could not have been averted on the day. However, if those who knew that Bailey’s killer carried weapons to school had reported it, the death could potentially have been avoided, the report adds.
Scotland has lost two science, technology, engineering or maths (Stem) teachers every week since the SNP took office in 2007, the Labour Party says. Research from the party suggests that more than 100 Stem teachers have been lost every year since 2007, with 187 fewer computing teachers; 410 fewer maths teachers and 105 fewer chemistry teachers. Labour said that Stem subjects were vital for the economy in the long term.
SNP conference delegates are expected to ask education secretary John Swinney to “end an anomaly” which means that fee-paying schools get lucrative tax breaks while state schools do not. A resolution has been put down by the party’s Newington and South Edinburgh branch which notes the role of education in combating inequality. It calls on the Scottish government to give local authority schools the same financial advantage as private schools “by making the necessary amendments to the 2005 Charities Act”. The motion is expected to be debated at the conference at the SECC, Glasgow, tomorrow.
A Scottish academic has been appointed to a committee which will evaluate the quality of education research in Norway. Kay Livingston, professor of educational research policy and practice at the University of Glasgow’s School of Education, has been appointed to the international evaluation committee of the Research Council of Norway. Professor Livingston will be joined by academics from across Europe.
@Emma_Seith
