Induction year deal diluted
- The guaranteed induction year for probationers, a key element in the teachers’ settlement, could be at risk as more students emerge from training than posts are available in schools, The TESS has learned. The education authorities and the Scottish Executive are holding intensive discussions to try to resolve the problem. Gordon Jeyes, general secretary of the Association of Directors of Education in Scotland, issued a “stay calm” message.
Meet the fifth new boss in five years
- The fifth Labour Education Minister in under five years has left the door open on the future of private finance in school building and the national publication of exam results. In her first interview as Minister for Education and Young People, Cathy Jamieson told The TESS that the business side of the public-private partnerships in refurbishing dilapidated schools had to be established before ministers agreed to expansion.
Shetland faces wrath of HMI
- Shetland has matched the notoriety of East Dunbartonshire by returning the equal-lowest rating in local-authority inspections. A three-month HMI investigation revealed little confidence among the council’s 35 heads in the ability of education chiefs to lead and manage the best-resourced service in Scotland.
Enterprise may challenge languages
- An unlikely replacement for modern languages in some secondary schools emerged at the enterprise education conference in Glasgow. Some supporters of enterprise education suggested it could take up any slack left by the switch in the Executive’s modern languages policy, which is to make languages an “entitlement” rather than compulsory up to S4.
Girls forced to be child brides
- The discovery that girls aged 11-13 have been taken out of schools in an Aegean town, to be married off by their families, has exposed a scandal in Turkish education. It will reinforce Home Secretary David Blunkett’s concerns about forced marriages among immigrants. After reports that 168 pupils failed to turn up to three schools in Incirliova, 50 miles south of Izmir, authorities involved in a government drive to improve attendance launched an investigation.
