It's the least we can do to signal the importance of our literary heritage and celebrate contemporary Scottish writing at the same time.
While it is not unexpected that Michael Russell should have chosen Burns Day to announce this policy, the ramifications of the move go far beyond our national bard. It means that English teachers can now range widely across the whole canon of Scottish literature, past and present. Indeed, I would hope that it will encourage any English teacher who does not normally tend to introduce pupils to Scottish literature to do so not just in S5, but from S1 onwards.
