Conference

 We hosted an Education conference on the 8th of September at the MacDonald Holyrood Hotel in Edinburgh. We used this conference to discuss some of the issues that currently exist in the education system.   We discussed how to improve reading and writing in schools.  We spoke about solutions to the problem of continually disruptive pupils. And we discussed improving the choices available to pupils and parents.

  We had a fantastic programme of speakers for the Conference. Thomas Idergard, from the Swedish think-tank Timbro, is discussed choice in education in Sweden. Professor Lindsay Paterson from the University of Edinburgh, Fred Forrester who was Deputy General Secretary of EIS until 2000, and John McLaren who is an Honorary Research Fellow in the Department of Urban Studies at the University of Glasgow all spoke about ways of improving standards in schools. There were also speeches from Gavin Hastings and Douglas Keil, the business manager of the Scottish Police Federation There were also speeches from Annabel Goldie, the leader of the Scottish Conservative Party, Murdo Fraser, the deputy leader and Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning, and Liz Smith, the shadow minister for Children Schools and Skills.