Political Comparison Made Easy

REFORMING OUR SCHOOLS

Educational standards will only improve across the board if parents have a greater say in choosing a school and if there are more incentives and freedoms to change poorly performing schools into good schools. Likewise, not all children can be successful in the same environment. Children with outstanding musical, artistic or sporting talents and those with special needs often require different resources and different types of schools. We therefore want to see a more diverse range of schools which better suit the individual needs of our children.

So we will enable educational charities, philanthropists, not-for-profit trusts and groups of parents to set up new schools and allow existing state schools to be run independently of local authorities.

They will all be non-selective and unable to charge fees. We will allow the sum of taxpayers' money which is devoted to the education of any child to follow them to any state-funded school of the parents' choice. We will give headteachers of schools remaining within local authority control more powers over the running of their own school, particularly in terms of discipline policy, recruitment of staff and control over how the school budget is spent.

The highest quality of teaching standards is crucial in raising standards in our schools. So too is good quality professional development and strong leadership throughout every level of the teaching profession. We support the findings of the recent Donaldson Report which stressed the need for the highest standards of teacher literacy and numeracy and we will continue to work with the General Teaching Council for Scotland and teacher training institutions to raise aspirations in the profession, to provide new routes into the teaching profession, more concurrent degree courses and to ensure there is renewed focus for teachers to keep up-to-date with their subject knowledge. We will ensure there are fewer barriers when it comes to teacher recruitment, by improving engagement between headteachers and the teacher training institutions, universities and employers. There needs to be more accurate information about both the short term and long term availability of teaching vacancies on a local rather than national basis.

There is growing evidence to show that our education system is failing far too many children. When it comes to literacy and numeracy, one in every six pupils currently leaves primary school unable to read, write or count properly. This means that too many children arrive at secondary school when the best opportunity to master these basic skills has been lost. Thirteen thousand pupils leave the Scottish schools system every year without acquiring good basics in reading and writing. There is growing evidence that the education systems in many comparable countries are performing far better. For example, in the Trends in International Maths and Science Survey (TIMSS), Scottish pupils were ranked below the global average in both maths and science. Such statistics are not acceptable. Greater focus on literacy and numeracy is essential, particularly in primary school. We will reform the process of testing reading, writing and arithmetic to make it more rigorous and to ensure that by the time pupils reach the end of P7 their progress in these basic skills is measured against nationally-agreed criteria. Whilst supporting the principles of the Curriculum for Excellence, we want to see as much focus on acquiring relevant subject knowledge as there is on acquiring relevant skills. We believe that traditional core subjects should be the foundation of all pupils' education.

We will also encourage greater cooperation between different schools so that there is more opportunity for pupils to gain access to the Higher and the Advanced Higher courses they require for college and university entrance and more opportunity for all pupils to gain access to good quality sports, music and drama facilities.

As well as ensuring that headteachers are able to decide the behaviour and uniform codes that will apply in their own school, we will pilot Second Chance Centres for the small minority of pupils who are persistently excluded from school and whose disruptive behaviour is preventing others from learning or teaching. The centres will be separate from the school environment and will enforce a strict code of discipline, while providing specialist help to refocus disruptive pupils' lives.

We believe that, as it stands, the education system fails to engage many young people who are unsuited to academic study or who would rather pursue a skilled trade. This is damaging to the Scottish economy and has created a skills shortage that frustrates householders and business people. We will encourage schools to introduce a more flexible curriculum structure which allows pupils to select either an academically-focussed path from S2 onwards or a more vocationally-focused path and we will work with SQA to ensure there is an examination system which reflects this. Pupils should be free to leave school at age 14 provided they engage in a monitored apprenticeship or a full-time vocational or technical training programme which can provide them with the necessary skills for the world of work.

According to the outgoing Scottish Government's own figures, over 70 percent of Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) payments are going to households defined as 'not deprived'. In keeping with its original purpose, we will reform the EMA so that it is targeted to help those most in need.

Please see pages 12-14 of the Scottish Conservative Party manifesto for this policy.

Please also see the Scottish Conservative Party spending plans and the Scottish Conservative Party summary budget which relate to their manifesto.

The party had no previous policy stated on its website for this topic for comparison.

Retrieved on 11/04/11 (5:28pm) from: 2011 Party Manifesto

Aspiring for Scotland to be among the very best for education in the world, raising attainment for every child, more powers for head teachers

School Education Action Plan

We want every child to succeed, to achieve their full potential and leave education with the right skills, the best qualifications they can attain and ready for work.

Our approach is based on a truly liberal value of ensuring that every child born or living in Scotland should have the very best opportunity at the start of life, regardless of wealth, privilege or family background.

We will use the Curriculum for Excellence, pioneered by Scottish Liberal Democrat education ministers, as the basis to raise standards for children in schools. We recognise and appreciate the efforts of teachers introducing the large reforms currently underway and our new proposals will make them easier to implement.

We will give more powers to head teachers over their schools, working with parents. Head teachers will be able to plan the development of their school, play to their strengths and meet the needs of their community.

Head teachers will have more time to lead great teaching and good discipline if they are given fewer instructions by government ministers.

They will have more powers to choose the right staff for their school and we will make it easier for them to recruit the brightest and most inspirational new teachers, thousands of whom do not have permanent teaching jobs.

We want to make sure that schools have a transition strategy to help all children - from high fliers to those being left behind by classmates - make progress during the transition into formal education from nursery and from primary to secondary.

Our approach to 16-18 education will make sure that young people continue to reach their full potential after the age of 16.

This is why every child will have a fair chance and better start in life under our Plan.

The School Education Action Plan will:
• Use the Curriculum for Excellence as the key to raise attainment and ensure the coherent delivery of literacy and numeracy skills throughout the 3 to 18 curriculum.
• Help every child to benefit from a strong start to formal learning in P2 onwards with the P1 year in primary school treated as a more informal start to education, with an emphasis on play, communication and social skills. This follows the successful models elsewhere in the world.
• Continue to expand the options available to pupils with the opportunity to attend college to do a course of their choice from the age of 14. Our approach to engage the top 20 private sector employers in new ways of thinking will help promote much greater private company involvement in post 14 vocational opportunities.
• Encourage more links between primary schools and secondary schools and universities on science and languages, where the skills exist in depth. Our Science Nation Action Plan will dovetail and provide new energy to this area.
• Give Scotland's pupils a global competitive edge and encourage an internationalist outlook in Scottish schools by developing Mandarin opportunities in our language strategies.
• Encourage more secondary school style teaching for pupils in P7 to help the transition from P7 to S1.
• Allow head teachers greater control over discipline in schools, with off-site education for persistently disruptive or violent pupils.
• Encourage greater sharing of facilities between schools, colleges and the local community, supporting the creation of community campuses and sports hubs. This will open up the school estate at evenings and weekends for wider use by the community.
• Support a system for individual pupil progress that sets regular goals and targets, developed by teachers in partnership with pupils and parents.
• Actively monitor how the new standards body SEQIA operates and ensure it is both efficient and inspirational.

Excellence in leadership. Excellence in education.

Teachers are the biggest resource in education. The quality of teaching is as important in the development of the individual child and young person as buildings, equipment, administration or even resources. We believe teachers should be free to carry out their duties without the burden of unnecessary bureaucracy or restrictive procedures. At the same time, education policy decision-making processes should be more open and transparent, with the ability to give a strategic voice to parents, staff, pupils and the wider community beyond the school.

We will:
• Devolve more power and financial control to head teachers and give them the flexibility they need within the Curriculum for Excellence. We trust teachers' professional judgement on the curriculum and method of assessment.
• Task the review of the McCrone agreement on teachers' terms and conditions to re-energise the agreement between teachers, councils and the Scottish Government and to examine ways in which head teachers can have more capacity to recruit directly the staff they need at their school, including offering early retirements to open the way for fresh, new staff. • Allow schools to be tailored to meet the needs of local communities, encouraging schools to develop a specialism or style that fits their local circumstances, without central interference, by giving them more control over their own school development plans.
• Put a priority on pupil-teacher ratios and allow head teachers and parents the flexibility to work within the existing legal class size limits. This is the best way to achieve the right number of teachers for our pupils.
• Review the Education (Parental Involvement) Act 2006 to give more control to head teachers, to help parents hold the head teacher to account and to empower parents to be involved in planning education alongside head teachers in the cluster of local schools.
• Ensure head teachers can be properly rewarded for outstanding leadership achievement and given incentives to turn around schools facing real challenges.
Establish through our existing regulatory and standards bodies a Centre of Education Leadership to promote, expand and spread the highest standards of leadership for all levels of education in Scotland.
• Develop the profile of the annual awards for innovation in education and exceptional service.
• Work with the General Teaching Council for Scotland on the re-accreditation of teachers to secure continual improvement.
• Review the effectiveness of existing processes to remove failing or failed teachers with a view to streamlining and accelerating the procedures.
• Review the protections afforded to teaching staff accused of mistreating pupils to prevent their careers being wrecked by false allegations.
• Pilot school cluster co-operatives, at a size that is reasonable, where head teachers collaborate to develop the 5-18 education priorities for the school cluster.
• Accept the recommendations of the Donaldson Review of teacher education. We will support a professional development system for teachers that commands the trust of the profession and ensures that all of Scotland's pupils receive the highest quality of teaching. Within this approach we will adopt a zero tolerance approach on poor teaching. We will support energetically the continual improvement of teachers who need assistance but those who can't teach shouldn't teach and will not teach. • Develop proper career structures for the other professionals involved in the classroom - technicians, classroom assistants, additional support for learning staff and nursery nurses and attendants - who make very significant contributions to the quality of educational provision.

Please see pages 53-55 of the Scottish Liberal Democrat Party manifesto for this policy.

The party had no previous policy stated on its website for this topic for comparison.

Retrieved on 18/04/11 (2:56am) from: 2011 Party Manifesto

Schools

Stability in our Schools

We will provide stability in our classrooms. As a nation we have agreed the reforms that are required and it is now about the successful implementation and delivery of those improvements through the Curriculum for Excellence. The SNP will, therefore, focus on building and completing the roll out of CfE, providing the support teachers and schools need to make it real from 0-18 and beyond, including continuing professional development.

Continuous Improvement in Educational Attainment

The most recent figures from the respected survey of international education performance, PISA 2009, show that the decline in Scotland's educational performance has been halted. After a period of drift since devolution, the first assessment under an SNP government shows that the tide has turned, with Scottish pupils performing above the international average in reading and science, at the international average in maths and at the same level as in England and Northern Ireland and better than Wales. We are determined to see an increased performance in the next PISA survey.

Curriculum for Excellence

The Curriculum for Excellence will deliver the connected, balanced and flexible approach which we need and it will free our teachers to teach. It will make teaching more enjoyable for those who do it, and those who benefit from it. And like all positive change, the more it is embraced, the more good it will do. We will enable our teachers and schools to deliver new learning through the Curriculum for Excellence, making it the cornerstone of education, providing the educational route from the earliest years through school to college, university and beyond. This will equip all our young people for life, work, leisure and further learning in the modern world.

The Curriculum for Excellence will have at its core a new emphasis on literacy and numeracy so we get the basics right from the early years. And we will work to improve outcomes and deliver a more flexible and personal learning experience for every child. Scotland's ambition should be to eradicate illiteracy and innumeracy and the actions we take over these next five years will be focused on delivering significant progress towards this goal.

Ultimately, our new curriculum will nurture young people as successful learners, confident individuals, effective contributors and responsible citizens. And, like the best education systems in the world, it will focus on quality of the teaching, which requires investment in teachers, and on the quality of the resources available, which is why we will continue to support the world-leading schools intranet and the new Online National Assessment Resource.

A New Generation of National Qualifications

New and refreshed qualifications, building on what we have, will be available from 2013-14 onwards to meet the needs of the first group of young people to have benefited from the new curriculum. We will ensure the successful delivery of these new qualifications, on time and on budget.

Smaller Class Sizes in Early Years

Smaller classes help improve the quality of the pupil teacher interaction which in turn leads to improved learning. Over these past four years class sizes in our primary schools have got smaller. They are now at record low levels. Progress has been made and there is more work to do. And, smaller class sizes ¥particularly in Primaries 1-3 and in the areas of greatest deprivation - are worth working for.

With local government we will look first to maintain the recent improvement before continuing with progressive reductions in class sizes and improved pupil-teacher ratios. And, in doing so we will also support initiatives such as nurture groups which are showing good results for many pupils.

From August this year there will be a new legal limit of 25 on class sizes in Primary 1. And over the next five years we will bring together the complex guidance and legislation on class sizes to deliver a coherent system in Scotland's schools to support progressive reductions in the youngest years.

Supporting our Teachers

We have introduced the McCormac Review into the 2001 McCrone agreement to see whether, 10 years on, that deal is delivering all the benefits that were intended for both teachers and pupils, is suited to the delivery of Curriculum for Excellence, attracts the most-talented people into the teaching profession and promotes strong leadership. The review will also examine the cost and size of the teacher workforce in the context of the current financial climate. We will carefully assess the recommendations made in the review and working in partnership will take forward those that we believe will deliver improvements in Scottish education.

We will also work with the profession and other partners to take forward the recommendations of the Donaldson Review, Teaching Scotland's Future. Our aim is to equip teachers with the skills and continuous professional development they need. We believe many of the recommendations, for example, on hub schools, the incorporation of Masters level credits into ongoing professional development and increased quality assurance, will provide a new direction and improved outcomes.

After a difficult period for teacher employment, in part caused by decisions by some local authorities to reduce teacher numbers rather than prioritise smaller classes, we have now reached agreement with local government to deliver sufficient teaching posts for all probationers who successfully complete their probation in summer 2011, and a place for all probationer teachers who require one under the induction scheme in August 2011. We now have the lowest teacher unemployment in the UK and are committed to reducing it further.

Ensuring the Highest Quality in Education

We will ensure the successful creation of the new Scottish Education Quality and Improvement Agency, which will bring the work of Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Education and Learning and Teaching Scotland together in one place. This new agency will improve the efficiency of the national bodies supporting education. It will be responsible for driving forward innovation in education by promoting best practice and providing support, resources and feedback based on inspections.

This quality and improvement body will be charged with leading the drive to complete the implementation of the new curriculum, improving our school education and encouraging innovation in our classrooms. It will do this with less bureaucracy, less red tape and with more resources freed to go to the frontline.

Minimising the Barriers to Education

We will keep the Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA). We will also work to ensure the EMA takes account of the needs of young carers, with more flexibility to recognise the particular pressures that some youngster face balancing school and caring responsibilities.

We are also proud of our action to extend free school meals and in time will look at ways of expanding current provision. We will also look to work with local authorities to identify other steps we can take in the future, when there is less pressure on education budgets, to improve support for low income families to help meet the costs associated with school, for example school uniforms and school trips.

Schools for the Future

We have already delivered 330 new and refurbished schools in the last four years - more than our predecessors. We will now take forward our £1.25 billion investment in new schools, with projects in every local authority area in Scotland. We are determined to replace or refurbish the worst condition schools in Scotland and will develop a new, third phase of school building to ensure an ongoing pipeline of new projects.

We halved the number of children in unsuitable buildings during our first term - we will do the same during our second, getting it down to a level where such buildings can be completely eliminated within a further five years. That will have undone the harm done over several generations by the Tory and Labour governments that neglected school maintenance and failed to replace crumbling buildings.

Working with the Scottish Futures Trust we will also look at ways of delivering greener schools, both in terms of construction and design. And we will work to ensure Scotland maintains its lead position on information and communication technology in our schools.

Please see pages 23-24 of the Scottish National Party manifesto for this policy.

Please see this SCREEN GRAB of the previous version of this policy from the party website.

Retrieved on 16/04/11 (1:30pm) from: 2011 Party Manifesto

Education as a Social Good to be Funded Collectively

The Scottish Green Party will stand up for the social value of education, paid for collectively because of its benefit to the whole of society. Sadly there has been too much emphasis over the years on the purely economic value of education. This narrow and selfish idea of education would be even more dominant if Scotland followed the UK Government's agenda, and turned education into a market commodity.

Greens believe that education is about more than providing skills for jobs. It should be a life-enhancing experience where knowledge about the world around us, as well as self-knowledge, are ends in themselves.

It is essential that we offer young people an education that prepares them for all aspects of life, with an emphasis on arts, creativity, health, environmental and ethical responsibility, and an understanding of scientific inquiry.

No tuition fees

Universities and colleges are part of what makes for a good society; they work best when education is free at the point of use and paid for collectively through taxation. Access to higher and further education, whether part-time or full-time, should be based on an individual’s ability to learn rather than their ability to pay.

Greens will oppose the UK Government's decision to shift the cost of higher and further education away from general taxation and onto the individual. Education is not simply a personal investment in a higher income, and while graduates do on average earn higher salaries, the only way to ensure that they pay a fair contribution is though progressive income tax. We'll commit to keeping education free at the point of use, and we'll oppose tuition fees and additional graduate taxes. The Westminster cuts will mean a funding gap - Greens will raise revenue to fill it.

We'll reverse the revenue cuts to further and higher education budgets, including the SNP's cut to the funding council. Instead, we will place a priority on funding education and research, ending student poverty, and keeping student debt down - all these are principles which need to be defended, and should not be played off against one another. We’ll aim to ensure that students who move between institutions do not lose council tax discounts.

We'll ensure part-time study is recognised as an essential tool in creating pathways between school, community groups, college and university, particularly for people from non-traditional backgrounds and those with caring responsibilities.

Protecting opportunities for our young learners

Local nurseries and schools are vital for the sustainability of communities. Local authorities and local communities are best placed to decide the right level of nursery and school provision. Schools and nurseries are, however, currently coming under intense pressure, especially as a result of the impact of unnecessary cuts in public expenditure.

The Scottish Green Party will ensure that priority is given to providing councils with the resources they need to keep local nurseries and schools open and class sizes down. Our schools are assets for children and communities, and before any school is closed we will require a thorough review of potential complementary and mixed uses, including partnership with pre-school providers.

Each local authority will be asked to produce a comprehensive school estate improvement programme to deliver future savings by investing in proper maintenance and energy efficiency, and we will introduce a new School Grounds Enhancement Fund. We'll also commit to providing free nursery education for children from age 3 upwards.

Greens recognise the value of those who work with our young learners, and we will aim to secure brighter prospects for our probationary teachers who face significant challenges to find work after their probationary year.

We'll increase support for the Eco-Schools programme, setting challenging new targets for energy and resource management, local food procurement and local biodiversity. We believe that Global Citizenship Education and Sustainability should have an enhanced status within the Curriculum for Excellence (CfE). The CfE itself, while offering opportunities for improvement in many areas, must be adequately resourced. We will work with teachers and education authorities to ensure that reforms take place over a manageable timetable, and for teachers to be well supported through these changes.

We'll deliver an entitlement for preschool and primary pupils to have at least 2 hours of outdoor education at least once a week and a commitment to developing opportunities for education in the outdoors and out of school, equivalent to at least one half day a week based on the Norwegian model.

We'll continue to support the Active Schools Programme to increase the opportunities for young people to try a variety of physical activities.

We'll encourage health-promoting schools and improve the quality of food provided in schools, based on the 'Food for Life' targets on fresh, local and organic food where possible. We remain committed to universal free school meals, and would restrict the sale of junk food brands in schools, as well as ensure advertising has no place in schools.

We support the rights of parents to choose to educate their children at home, with appropriate safeguards, and aim to improve support and guidance for home learning.

Please see pages 16-17 of the Scottish Green Party manifesto for this policy.

Please see this SCREEN GRAB of the previous version of this policy from the party website.

Retrieved on 04/05/11 (11:37pm) from: 2011 Party Manifesto

Excellent, innovative schools

In tough economic times, parents and children rightly expect Scotland's education system to give young people the skills they will need to get ahead in the future. Scottish Labour is determined that our education system rises to these expectation through innovative schools that inspire and equip all children for the vast array of challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.

Schools should meet both the individual and collective needs of their pupils, including those who wish to develop practical and vocational skills, as well as those who focus on more academic subjects. To support this aim, we will foster closer co-operation between schools, colleges and employers in providing vocational education. In schools where there is considerable demand, we will invest in on-site provision, so that pupils can choose vocational subjects when they make their subject choices at S1 or S2. We will also encourage schools in adjacent areas to work together to increase pupil choice in Advanced Higher subjects.

We want to support head teachers and their staff by establishing the First Class Fund, to help schools implement these ambitious plans to develop vocational education. The Fund, which builds on the success of Labour's Schools of Ambition and Determined to Succeed programmes, will channel additional resources, separate from devolved school management budgets, to help schools develop innovative provision or develop a specialism that increases the diversity of vocational provision within the education authority, extending choice and increasing quality.

Excellent, innovative schools need excellent, innovative buildings. Scottish Labour will scrap the Scottish Futures Trust - which has stalled Scotland's ambitious school building programme - and deliver improved funding mechanisms to enhance the school estate. We will explore all options to replace, rebuild or demolish those schools rated as 'unsuitable' and will ensure that education gets its fair share of available capital resources to improve facilities where most needed.

Better basics

An estimated 13,000 pupils in Scotland leave school each year still experiencing difficulty with reading, writing or numeracy. This is a waste of human and economic potential. Scottish Labour will therefore take a zero tolerance approach to illiteracy and innumeracy, ensuring that our future workforce is able to meet the needs of employers and that higher literacy levels are a central objective of the Curriculum for Excellence.

Scottish Labour will implement the key recommendations of the Literacy Commission, driving up standards in literacy and numeracy by offering specialised jobs and training to up to 1000 recently qualified teachers who are struggling to find employment. These teachers will deliver additional targeted support in small groups in English and Maths for those who need it.

We will develop a strategy to encourage school pupils who have an interest in the skills that will drive future innovation and economic prosperity - science, technology, engineering and maths. To tackle gendered career segregation later on, it is particularly important to encourage girls and young women to choose these pathways.

Trusting teachers and support staff

Scotland's teachers are well-placed to know the needs of their pupils and the best way to ensure that each child succeeds. We recognise that delivering good quality education would not be possible without the vital contribution made by classroom assistants and other support staff to the school community. We will give heads more responsibility for decisions around the curriculum and more flexibility over the deployment of staff and resources. We will ensure that the Curriculum for Excellence is brought back on track, so that teachers - and parents and pupils - can have confidence in the examination system and the curriculum into which it fits. If we are to successfully nurture the potential of all of Scotland's young people, we need to attract the best talent to teaching. Scottish Labour welcomes the recommendations of the Donaldson report and we believe the time is now right for reviewing all aspects of leadership, management and training in education. We will work with teachers to raise professional standards and develop leadership potential, encouraging local authorities to support and prioritise continuing professional development for teachers during the transition to the Curriculum for Excellence.

Please see pages 27-29 of the Scottish Labour Party manifesto for this policy.

Please see this [SCREEN GRAB of the previous version of this policy from the party website.

Retrieved on 12/04/11 (3:40pm) from: 2011 Party Manifesto