* The working party which advised the commission was chaired by Elizabeth Smith, a former teacher at George Watson’s College in Edinburgh and previous Tory education spokesman.

The members were: Donald McGougan, head of George Watson’s junior school; Gordon Lind, a retired South Lanarkshire teacher; Charles Jones, professor of English language at Edinburgh University; Caroline Farquhar, a training specialist; Judith Sischy, director of the Scottish Council of Independent Schools; Scott Campbell, a St Andrews University student; Edward Pickard, a governor of St George’s School in Edinburgh; Brian Cooklin, head of Stonelaw High in Rutherglen; and Alison Long, secondary postgraduate course director at Moray House Institute.