David Hill (TESS, September 20) claims that the national debate “focused chiefly on academic standards” and that “little attention was paid to the socialising role of schools”.
I doubt if that has been true of the Executive’s debate, and it certainly is an inaccurate description of the debate sponsored by the Parliament’s education committee.
In the report on that debate which the committee accepted on 17 September (available at their website), the consensus was reported to be that “currently there is an over-emphasis on an academic, subject-centred curriculum”, and that “the socialising role of schools” is “a very important part of formal education”. Mr Hill is pushing at an open door.
Lindsay Paterson
Moray House School of Education
University of Edinburgh
