Computer scheme could be hit by training shortage
A “massive programme” of in-service training for primary teachers in the use of micro-computers was called for this week by Mr John Pollock, general secretary of the Educational Institute of Scotland. His comments were made as scepticism grew among educationalists about the government’s pound;9 million plan, announced by the Prime Minister, to put a microcomputer into each of Britain’s 30,000 primary schools by 1984.
Rural communities deplore lack of local secondaries
Parents living in rural areas of Scotland find education among the least satisfactory of services provided for them, a study published by the Scottish Consumer Council has revealed. Education comes seventh out of 12 services in the report, based on a study conducted between 1978 and 1981. Researchers interviewed 3,100 people in 26 rural parishes from Fetlar in Shetland to Sorbie in Wigtown.
Science spending `disappointing’
The government’s treatment of science in the university cutbacks has become a theme of this summer’s graduation speeches. Following Sir John Gunn’s concern about the effect on research, which he voiced at a University of Glasgow ceremony, Dr John Burnett, principal of the University of Edinburgh, told graduates that the government’s support of science was disappointing and inadequate.
Whatever next?
What with someone trying to bum a fag off Her Majesty as she lay in her bed, a possible spy scandal of Burgess and Maclean dimensions, and Lord Franks and Co burrowing away to find who knew how much in the government about Galtieri’s plans for administrative change in the Falklands, you would think Mrs Thatcher would have enough burning issues to deal with. But now she is going to have to turn her mind to corporal punishment.
Antidote to dole blight sought
A working party headed by two senior officials in Finland’s ministry of education has issued plans to combat the lengthening juvenile dole queue. A report spells out a familiar situation: 11 per cent of Finns under 25 are unemployed. The proposals are directed at vocational training schemes, which could be expanded to absorb more school-leavers.
