Class size policy
Back on 6th September the Scottish Conservatives raised serious concerns in this Chamber about the ability of local authorities to deliver this policy citing the estimated costs for its implementation in the local government area of Perth and Kinross. At the same time, Glasgow and Edinburgh City councils stated their own concerns saying that they had no chance of being able to deliver this policy by the 2011 timescale set out by the Cabinet Secretary. The subsequent pressure from several other local authorities about the realities of the situation eventually forced the Cabinet Secretary water down the policy to a timescale of “as soon as possible”.
Just as important however, is the message from local authorities that local factors vary greatly across Scotland and the fact that a universally applied policy of this type is neither sustainable nor educationally sound. Will the Cabinet Secretary agree with me that the time has finally come to abandon this approach and leave the decision about class sizes to those who are in the best position to make the right decision namely individual headteachers?
The Cabinet Secretary is on the record today saying that the historic concordat between the Scottish Government and COSLA is a new partnership which will allow for much greater flexibility and delivery of local front line services. Will she agree with me that, when it comes to class sizes, the best way forward with regard to these two principles would be to allow headteachers and not government to decide on the best class sizes for their own schools?
All children need discipline
Far too often these days, reports of bad discipline in schools dominate the newspaper headlines. Worse still, too many of these headlines are reports about bad discipline amongst young primary schoolchildren.
Such pupils are a small minority in the grand scale of things but their numbers are growing and, not surprisingly, so too is the level of concern amongst teachers, parents and the general public.
We can kid ourselves no longer; poor discipline is a major problem in far too many schools across the country and the Scottish Conservatives believe that it is about time the Scottish Government took the matter seriously. Some tough decisions have to be made.
Firstly, the classroom teacher and especially the headteacher have to be given far more powers when it comes to dealing with discipline. At present, too many teachers will tell you that they feel their hands are tied because they are unable to impose effective sanctions without encountering a lengthy process of referral to those who supposedly have more power than they do. Indeed in some cases, when consultation with local government authorities is thought necessary, not even head-teachers appear to have enough powers to deal with unruly children. This has to change.
When indiscipline occurs in the classroom it should be dealt with firmly, fairly and quickly. There should be no time for the youngster, his or her classmates and the teacher to forget the details of what happened and the reason for punishment.
In this respect, we should not underestimate the strength of the bond between teacher and pupil, especially in primary school classes. A teacher is in daily contact with the pupil, he or she often knows as much as any parent (maybe even more!) about what makes that pupil tick, and is often the person in the school whom the pupil trusts most and to whom he or she will go first for advice. It therefore makes little sense to dilute the powers that that person has when it comes to keeping discipline.
Neither should we underestimate the burden of paperwork that now accompanies the reporting of disciplinary issues, paperwork that often involves a lengthy procedure and sometimes dispatching the pupil off to see someone outside the immediate school community who, however professional at their job, is a rather remote figure in the eyes of the youngster. Sometimes, the issue isn’t dealt with until several days later by which time the whole process can become unnecessarily complicated.
And when it comes to serious indiscipline and tackling persistent offenders, there has to be a much stronger line. It simply isn’t acceptable that these pupils are allowed to remain in mainstream classes disrupting the education of the well behaved majority and making life a misery for their teachers. It may not be fashionable to say so, but these pupils should be removed from the schools where they are causing mayhem. They should not be allowed to return to mainstream education until they show that they can behave properly. As a nation, we should be making far greater use of many of the voluntary and private sector groups (eg Fairbridge, Princes Trust eTEN, Spark of Genius), who, along with their highly-skilled staff and in environments completely separate from school, help problem pupils to focus on learning basic skills, self-discipline and respect for others.
But we also believe Scotland would benefit from second chance units, similar to the second chance schools which have been a huge success in many parts of Europe and the United States. The idea has found favour with teachers and with the police, two groups which fully recognise the likely effects if in serious indiscipline isn’t properly tackled at a young age.
But there is far more to this issue that goes well beyond what happens inside the classroom. It involves every parent accepting the responsibility for their child’s behaviour. It involves teaching them in the very early years the difference between right and wrong and it means encouraging them to take part in activities outside the classroom once they have found where their individual interests and talents lie. Whether it is music or sport, drama or art, every child is good at something. These activities are not only highly valuable in the educational sense but they also provide a channel through which to find new friends and new focus in their life. In short, these activities are usually the means of keeping them fully occupied and out of trouble.
At the end of the day, we should never forget that pupils like discipline. They work much better in an environment where the rules are clear, simple and consistent and where they know exactly where they stand. They do not like a situation where they feel rules are constantly being broken and where their teachers seem powerless to deal with the bullies.
School discipline should be at the forefront of the political debate. It is a small number of pupils who are causing the problem but if we let them get away with it we are in for very tough times ahead. That is why I want the government to act now.