IF THE captain of a well-run industry offered advice to politicians on how to increase production or boost exports, they would probably pay attention. Sir Ian Wood, for example, was trusted to conduct a review into the oil and gas sector three years ago (when that business was in better shape than it is now). His recommendations were taken on board and the government said it was committed to implementing them in full.
However, when the head of one of the top education establishments in the country makes a few suggestions on how to lift standards in schools, he is immediately dismissed by the powers that be.
Cameron Wyllie, principal of George Heriot’s School in Edinburgh, has spoken out this week about the Curriculum for Excellence, introduced into Scotland in 2010 and much criticised ever since.
Wyllie said he is seeing a sharp rise in applications to his fee-paying school in S3 because CfE, as it is known, does not challenge brighter pupils.
One of the main aims of the government’s so called reform was to provide a broad general education. Instead of choosing seven or eight subjects in S3 and concentrating on them for two years – as happened with the old Scottish Standard Grades and still happens with GCSEs – children must now wait until the end of that year before specialising.
The idea was to postpone the pressure of exams and create "successful learners, confident individuals, responsible citizens and effective contributors".
The problem is that while pursuing such vague notions, educators seem to have taken their eye off the basics, and numeracy and literacy levels in Scottish schools are in a downward spiral.
Wyllie said he believes radical changes should be made to CfE to allow some pupils to do more exams. The first thing he would do is scrap the policy of a broad general education, which he has always found "deeply perplexing".
If I were John Swinney, the new education minister, I would listen to the private school head; he knows what he’s talking about. At Heriot’s, around 75 per cent of Highers taken in the first year of sixth form achieve an A grade, compared to a Scottish average of 25 per cent.
Children’s backgrounds are, of course, a factor but they are not the whole story. Ministers here find it easy to excuse poor school attainment on socio-economic criteria but the sweeping reforms in English schools have shown that a disadvantaged start in life does not have to decide a child’s fate.
The academies released from local authority control have transformed the prospects for many youngsters south of the border and could do the same in Scotland, if only our government would follow the lead of the best performing institutions.
It is not just Heriot’s but most private schools that are ignoring the ‘restrictive’ CfE, said John Edward, director of the Scottish Council of Independent Schools. Many state schools are too, apparently, because they want their students to gain more qualifications.
This is not to be tolerated by the one-size-fits-all thinking of Scottish ministers. School inspectors have now launched a clampdown on CfE objectors and even the most academically able will be forced into an educational straitjacket.
Not in the independent sector though. Edward said he doesn’t know of any private school that has adopted the broad general education – "I don’t think they would bring the drawbridge down at one stage or another."
The approach in independent schools is to tailor the system to the child and not the other way round. If pupils are ready for exams earlier then they will take them earlier.
But the champions of CfE insist the purpose of education is about more than passing exams. The broad general education gives children other skills, such as team working, communication, collaboration, and problem solving, said the executive director of the Scottish Parent Teacher Council.
Yet such attributes need not be lost in the drive for exam excellence. Private schools are often hailed by parents for their extra-curricular provision and, ironically, in focusing on getting the best out of every child, they instil a love of learning and create confident individuals and effective contributors along the way.
The OECD said countries where schools have more autonomy do better. That is clearly the case in England as the academy model becomes the norm, and it could be here, if we let the independents serve as our template.
They are obviously doing something right, so if the state can’t beat them, why not join them?
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