Kids’ tsar: I’ll do it my way - The Herald

Children’s commissioner Tam Baillie, who has been reappointed until 2017, has defended his approach since taking over in 2009. A small number of anonymous but vociferous objectors to his reappointment criticised Mr Baillie’s nationwide survey asking young people to identify his priorities, “A Right Blether”. He pointed to 50,000 responses and disputed that a caricature of himself promoting the project had cost pound;4,000, citing pound;200 instead.

Farewell Itchy Coo - Scotland on Sunday

l Itchy Coo, the publisher of children’s books in Scots, is to close amid uncertainty over funding from new arts body Creative Scotland. Itchy Coo has sold nearly 250,000 books since it was created in 2002, including original titles and translations of novels by authors such as Alexander McCall Smith and Robert Louis Stevenson. Black amp; White publishing will continue to print Itchy Coo’s back catalogue.

Repeat to learn - The Scotsman

l Children who demand to be read the same story over and over again may learn more than those who choose different books each time, according to researchers at Sussex University. Psychologist Jessica Horst experimented on three-year-olds: over a week, one group heard three different stories with the same new words; another group heard only one story with the same words. The latter group appeared to pick up new information with each reading.

Pad behaviour - The Scottish Sun

l A headteacher at an independent school has described handwriting as a “dead art” and wants children to do their exams on iPads. Written exams were “out of line with everything you do in real life”, said Alison Speirs of Cedars School of Excellence in Greenock. Her pound;6,000-a-year school has spent pound;45,000 issuing all its pupils with iPads.

Gaelic primary row - Scottish daily mail

Gaelic quango Bord na Gaidhlig has called for a leading councillor to be removed from a review into plans for an Edinburgh school dedicated to the language. Arthur Cormack, the body’s chair, pointed to recent comments by Edinburgh’s education convener, Marilyne MacLaren, who questioned the value of Gaelic in a city which probably had more Polish speakers. Mrs MacLaren denied any claim that she had suggested Gaelic schools led to segregation.