`Crude’ league tables rejected

A reminder that the Tory party in Scotland is not completely thirled to the education minister’s policies came as the Conservatives’ think-tank issued a surprise warning shot cautioning against examination league tables. The education policy committee told Michael Forsyth that league tables were “an English concept (though, we note, welcomed there by the Labour party) which is an unhelpful and unsophisticated notion when applied to the Scottish educational scene”.

Ballot key to FE impasse

Local authority employers will not increase their pay offer to college lecturers unless unions put the offer to members and recommend acceptance. Anything extra, however, would not bridge the gap with teachers’ 9.2 per cent pay award. A meeting of FE management decided to stick by its 7 per cent offer backdated to last April, with another 1.2 per cent payable from this month.

Backlash from subject specialists

The 5-14 report on environmental studies is provoking a debate that promises to be fiercely fought between subject separatists and integrationists. Maggi Allan, chairman of the group that produced the report, has taken on the education minister over his support for separate teaching in history, geography and other components. She says that, with at least seven subjects included under environmental studies, there is a danger that teaching them separately would fragment the curriculum.

School board by-elections collapse

The number of school boards that have collapsed reached 206 this week, as not enough parents came forward to fill all the seats at the second attempt. Almost half the boards failed to attract sufficient nominations and authorities were obliged to have another go at filling the vacancies. Even the threat of existing boards being disestablished has not concentrated parents’ minds.

Survival lessons of war

The Yugoslav federal army has been randomly shelling the Croatian town of Karlovac. Most days, schools in the industrial town are effectively closed. In a bid to plug the educational gap, English teacher Mirjana Dosen has helped to introduce school lessons over a local radio station.