Hume Occasional Paper No. 57
ISBN 1-870482-48-5
In his paper on education, which is printed separately later in this volume, Lindsay Paterson explains that the growth and expansion of democracy has been accompanied by a growth in education. This is seen to be especially true in Scotland and to present a particular set of expectations from an increasingly educated and democratically empowered citizenship. People want more, ever more, education, and they want a visible measure of accountability in its delivery. As a manifestation of this demand for accountability and responsiveness, Paterson sees a clear endorsement for the principle of Scottish home rule as manifested in the Scotland Act 1998.
Paterson sees the Scottish Parliament as facing the challenge of expanding opportunities on the education front. A prime example of this is the move away from the old Higher to Higher Still, a move that has the potential to satisfy the increasingly exacting demands of an ever more informed and educated class of parents, and indeed the demands that children themselves express partly as a reflection of their parents’ views. The comprehensive principle, seen to have been a success in Scotland, is in need of renewal. Renewal particularly in terms of ensuring social inclusion as the system, in general, strains under increasing numbers and organisational and curriculum change.
Such a renewal of the comprehensive principle is seen by Paterson as easing the transition into higher education. Here a role is seen for the Parliament setting up a fund for lifelong learning, whereby projects could be funded that would widen access through television and radio broadcasting as well as internet access.
There is also a call for a more open system of governance in terms of setting educational policy, a process which is seen, at present, as being quango-dominated and opaque. There is a clear challenge here for the Scottish Parliament to work in concert with bodies such as the School Inspectorate, the Scottish Qualifications Authority, the teachers, parents, pupils and the wider community to develop new policies. The governing bodies of schools, colleges and universities, it is argued, should be similarly opened up to wider scrutiny and participation.
Paterson ends his lecture with a discussion of the connection between education and citizenship. This is a discussion that has also been visited more recently in England. Paterson’s view is that Scottish education already achieves much in this direction. It delivers a wide-based education, it allows pupils to discover and experience a degree of independence in learning. He also points to Modern Studies as being the prime example of a civics education in Scotland. But the Scottish Parliament faces some testing questions on this issue. For example, to what extent will regional differences within Scotland be encouraged to emerge in the educational process, likewise cultural differences with the prospect of separate Islamic schools with distinct Islamic communities?
This lecture sees the Scottish Parliament as having the opportunity to build on a generally successful record of education in Scotland over the last 30 years, but it also sees that very success as providing a testing audience and electorate for the Parliament.
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