Despite the rate of change in Scottish education, it will take several years to see if these changes have the desired results set out by the advocates of the way forward.
Certainly, schools and teachers are no longer the main drivers of education in Scotland. Teachers and schools implement education as dictated by the supporters of the “new” public services. The main players now are the target-setting managers who are backed up with documentation covering every aspect of a child’s time in school. Private-sector discipline now underlies education as surely as it does the “compete or die” ethics so enthusiastically supported by most of our politicians and media.
From teachers’ training and performance, to schools and education’s effect on society and the economy, we have micro-managing approaches which demand compliance.
The quality assurance units set up in local authorities and an unforgiving inspectorate ensure every action a teacher takes must be justified against national guidelines. Indeed, the inspectorate has been showing senior management just how ruthless they should be when it comes to running a school.
The one target achieved in Scottish education in the past decade is ever- increasing pressure on teachers to conform or move on. Re-accreditation of teachers will just turn the screw a little tighter.
Fresh outlook for inspection? Chatroom, 31
James Waugh Currie, Edinburgh.
