SNP deputy leader role hotly contested
Training, youth and women’s employment minister Angela Constance has launched a bid to become deputy leader of the SNP. Her competitors for the post - presently held by Nicola Sturgeon - will be Keith Brown, a former junior education minister, and SNP treasury spokesman Stewart Hosie. Ms Sturgeon is currently the only candidate to replace outgoing first minister Alex Salmond.
Children in care still falling behind other pupils
The attainment of looked-after children remains lower than that of their peers, according to Scottish government figures from 2012-13. They show that the levels of qualifications gained by looked-after pupils are improving overall, but they have poorer attendance records and remain less likely to go on to further or higher education or employment. Exclusion rates among looked-after children are continuing to fall, although they are still more likely to be excluded than other pupils.
Parents vow to fight school closure plans
Controversial proposals by Moray Council could lead to the closure of 10 primary schools and one secondary. The authority’s Sustainable Education Review was commissioned as part of a 10-year plan to improve education in the area, which has 13,000 pupils, 45 primary schools and eight secondaries. One institution marked for closure is Milne’s High School in Fochabers. Its pupils would instead go to schools in Elgin, Keith or Buckie. The report will be debated at a special meeting on 3 November. Parent groups have vowed to fight the plans.
An inspector may call on the whole community
Education Scotland is consulting on changes that could result in inspectors assessing education across entire communities rather than in individual schools. It is also looking at how to introduce inspections that address specific problems already identified in schools - for example, transition from primary to secondary. Education Scotland first wants to hear the views of anyone with a stake in the inspection process. Find out more at bit.lyConsultationES
`Some way to go’ on communicating CfE aims
More needs to be done to help teachers and headteachers to understand the aims of Curriculum for Excellence (CfE), a leading figure in Scottish education has said. Kenneth Muir, chief executive of the General Teaching Council for Scotland, told MSPs at an education committee meeting to discuss CfE and the new National qualifications this week: “I think we still have some way to go in terms of teachers’, and in some cases headteachers’, understanding of the basic philosophy of what Curriculum for Excellence is trying to achieve.” But he added that he thought Scotland had got “over the hump” of putting the new curriculum in place, despite a number of unresolved issues.
