Raising the Standard of Education in Scotland
Scottish Conservatives’ Education Conference
Salisbury Suite, MacDonald Holyrood Hotel
8th of September 2009, 10:00 to 16:00
Programme of Events
10:00 – 10:20 – Coffee
10:20 – 10:30 - Opening Remarks, Annabel Goldie MSP, Leader of the Scottish Conservatives.
Session One – Raising the Standard of Choice
Chaired by Murdo Fraser MSP, Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning.
10:30 – 11:00 Thomas Idergard, Programme Director for Welfare & Reform at the Swedish think tank Timbro and Senior Advisor at Magnora, discusses opening up school choice based on the Swedish model.
11:00 – 11:30 – Jamie Martin, Policy Analyst to Michael Gove MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families on the Conservatives’ plans for school choice in England and Wales. Followed by parent testimonials.
11:30 - 12:00 Q&A session on opening up more choice for parents in schools.
Lunch 12:00 – 13:15
Session Two – Raising the Standard of Teaching and Testing
Chaired by Elizabeth Smith MSP, Shadow Minister for Children, Schools and Skills
13:15 – 13:35 John McLaren, Honorary Research Fellow, Dept of Urban Studies, University of Glasgow, on educational decline.
13:35 – 13:55 Fred Forrester, former teacher, lecturer and Deputy General Secretary of EIS, contributor to The Scotsman, and consultant to the GTCS and SSBA, will discuss raising standards in schools.
13:55 – 14:20 Professor Lindsay Paterson, Professor of Educational Policy, School of Education, University of Edinburgh on raising literacy and numeracy standards.
Break 14:20 – 14:45
Session Three – Raising the Standard of Discipline
Chaired by Elizabeth Smith MSP, Shadow Minister for Children, Schools and Skills.
14:45 – 15:05 Gavin Hastings, former Scotland and British Lions Rugby Union Captain, on Outdoor Education in Scotland.
15:05 – 15:25 - Douglas Keil, Business Manager, Scottish Police Federation, on the role of campus police officers, persistently disruptive pupils and the introduction of a second chance schools initiative.
15:25 – 15:45 - Elizabeth Smith MSP, Shadow Minister for Children, Schools and Skills, expands on second chance centres policy to deal with disruptive pupils.
15:45 – 16:00 - Closing Remarks from Murdo Fraser MSP, Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning.