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Official Report: search what was said in Parliament

The Official Report is a written record of public meetings of the Parliament and committees.  

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Dates of parliamentary sessions
  1. Session 1: 12 May 1999 to 31 March 2003
  2. Session 2: 7 May 2003 to 2 April 2007
  3. Session 3: 9 May 2007 to 22 March 2011
  4. Session 4: 11 May 2011 to 23 March 2016
  5. Session 5: 12 May 2016 to 5 May 2021
  6. Current session: 12 May 2021 to 6 July 2025
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Displaying 808 contributions

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Education, Children and Young People Committee [Draft]

Tertiary Education and Training (Funding and Governance) (Scotland) Bill

Meeting date: 7 May 2025

George Adam

That is where some of the confusion comes in. Joe FitzPatrick and I were talking about this earlier. We come from backgrounds where, if someone has been an apprentice, they have a trade and people say, “Oh, he’s okay—he’s got a trade.” Someone who is a lifelong learner does not have the same kudos among those from our background as someone who has gone through an apprenticeship.

Education, Children and Young People Committee [Draft]

Tertiary Education and Training (Funding and Governance) (Scotland) Bill

Meeting date: 7 May 2025

George Adam

I do not doubt the skill of the people who work for SDS for one minute, but most of that talent will be transferred over to individual—

Education, Children and Young People Committee [Draft]

Tertiary Education and Training (Funding and Governance) (Scotland) Bill

Meeting date: 7 May 2025

George Adam

But one would argue that, if you streamlined the organisation and had just one organisation doing the delivery, you would still be able to do this. The report came to that conclusion.

Education, Children and Young People Committee [Draft]

Education (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2

Meeting date: 7 May 2025

George Adam

I just had a wee look at what the process is in England. Apparently, the three-year cycle is a policy aspiration. If a school is rated outstanding, it is inspected every four to five years, a good school gets done every four years and there is full reinspection within 30 months if a school requires improvement. That is a good idea.

However, the whole point is that it does not actually happen every three years. It would probably work out similarly to the system that we have, in which we ensure that, when there is an issue, there is a process—we do the inspection and the school gets the support that is needed. That is almost exactly the same, because outstanding schools and good schools will be the ones that are—

Education, Children and Young People Committee [Draft]

Tertiary Education and Training (Funding and Governance) (Scotland) Bill

Meeting date: 7 May 2025

George Adam

So the proposal is not the same.

Education, Children and Young People Committee [Draft]

Tertiary Education and Training (Funding and Governance) (Scotland) Bill

Meeting date: 7 May 2025

George Adam

There is more flexibility for the employers to get what they want—is that what you are saying?

Education, Children and Young People Committee [Draft]

Tertiary Education and Training (Funding and Governance) (Scotland) Bill

Meeting date: 7 May 2025

George Adam

But that is what we are hearing from you today—a very strong argument for things remaining the same.

Education, Children and Young People Committee [Draft]

Education (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2

Meeting date: 7 May 2025

George Adam

Given the figures brought up by my colleague John Mason—the fact that there could be 800 inspections a year—you run the risk of creating an administrative burden, with schools constantly under inspection and nothing getting done.

The evidence that we received from Professor Ken Muir from UWS—you have mentioned him on numerous occasions—was that the current inspection frameworks already provide sufficient flexibility to target resources where they are most needed while maintaining oversight of the system. He is someone who works in education and did a whole report on this and understands how everything works. Perhaps he would think that 800 inspections a year would be a bit much.

Education, Children and Young People Committee [Draft]

Education (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2

Meeting date: 7 May 2025

George Adam

Will you take an intervention?

Education, Children and Young People Committee

Education (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2

Meeting date: 30 April 2025

George Adam

The more that I have listened to you talk—we have been doing this for nearly 12 hours now—the more that I have been thinking about whether we are trying to reinvent the wheel. Education Scotland does a lot of this work anyway. Are we not tinkering around the edges to create another body that would do what Education Scotland is already doing?