Catholics go it alone on 5-14 RE curriculum
A major rift has emerged between the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of Scotland over the 5-14 programme on religious and moral education after the Catholic Church delivered a stinging rebuke to the government’s proposals. “Our schemes lay more emphasis on Christianity and slightly less emphasis on other world religions,” said John Oates, headteacher of St Modan’s High in Stirling.
Pupils denied speech therapy
Strathclyde Region and the Scottish Office are to hold a top-level summit to try to resolve continuing cash and legal wrangles threatening to deny children their right to speech therapy. Long-running confusion between health boards, which run the speech therapy service, and local authorities, which are obliged to meet special educational needs, was widely thought to have been resolved following the intervention of Michael Forsyth, the then education minister.
Labour bats for Newbattle
The latest in a long line of bids to save Newbattle Abbey has been launched by Labour’s education spokesman, who has urged the government once again to reconsider funding Scotland’s sole adult residential college. John McFall, the Dumbarton MP, points out that the college has survived against the odds since government funding was withdrawn three years ago.
What’s the danger in a stranger?
The effectiveness of traditional approaches to “stranger danger” education is being called into question by researchers at Glasgow and Strathclyde universities. John Gillies of Glasgow University says the fundamental problem is that the concept of a stranger is hard for an adult to define, let alone a child, and leads many children into fantasy.
Boston’s belief in miracles is unshaken
When Boston University took responsibility for running schools in the suburb of Chelsea in 1989, critics said it was attempting the impossible. Chelsea was broke, its schools decrepit, and it had the highest teen pregnancy rate and lowest exam scores in Massachusetts. University president John Silber gave the project three years. Three years are now up. The results are in. They are not good.
