I ENJOYED the article by Simon Bain in your business section ("Call for reform of education to help address skills shortage" , The Herald, August 11).
I agree with Ross Martin of the Scottish Council for Development and Industry (SCDI) that the new Curriculum for Excellence appears to be " plodding through treacle" in its progress. I believe the skills problem has several clearly-defined roots. For example, in an effort to highlight the skills issue when the UK started the process of rebuilding its industries after the Second World War the then Scottish Education Department published, in 1950, a memorandum entitled Technical Subjects in Secondary Schools.
It stated: "The case for the considerable extension of technical education in our secondary schools is a strong one, not only because of its distinctive educational value but also because of its intimate bearing on the present day life and needs of the nation. For this extension to take place technical subjects must be given an adequate status".
However, I feel that at least two influential factors have, since then, weakened this impetus for parity of esteem for skills from developing fully. As access to a university education became more common among wider classes of society in the post-war years, many of our schools determined that university entrance should be their pupils' prime aspiration. For some, the movement to comprehensive schools barely dented this blinkered agenda. This was hardly surprising given the background of academic education most school staff had and indeed still have. Compounding this perception was the obvious decline in heavy industry in Scotland,which resulted in a stereotypical view that skills-based learning was for yesterday's jobs.
The urgent need for educational reform will not be addressed now through analysing the success of our schools in targeting the entrance needs of universities, but by considering how well schools meet the specific and generic skills needs of our emerging industries at all levels.
Bill Brown,
46 Breadie Drive, Milngavie.
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