The Official Report is a written record of public meetings of the Parliament and committees.
All Official Reports of meetings in the Debating Chamber of the Scottish Parliament.
All Official Reports of public meetings of committees.
Displaying 768 contributions
Education, Children and Young People Committee
Meeting date: 1 December 2021
Willie Rennie
I am sorry, Jennifer, but I must stop you there. My question is whether teachers are getting enough support now. You have described what needs to happen in structural terms, but are teachers getting the support now? Please answer that briefly, if possible, and then I would like Mike Corbett to respond, too.
Education, Children and Young People Committee
Meeting date: 1 December 2021
Willie Rennie
What is your perspective, Mike?
Education, Children and Young People Committee
Meeting date: 1 December 2021
Willie Rennie
It does not, convener. Four, perhaps.
Education, Children and Young People Committee
Meeting date: 1 December 2021
Willie Rennie
I have a final question for you. On a scale of one to 10, where are we with the Morgan review?
Education, Children and Young People Committee
Meeting date: 1 December 2021
Willie Rennie
My reading of the situation is that the position is quite stark. The numbers have been increasing in recent years. About a third of children have additional support needs, which is a major proportion of the school population. Waits for diagnosis on a range of needs are now longer. Waits for mental health support from the health service are incredibly long and are getting longer. The number of co-ordinated support plans has gone down in the past eight years. The funding is challenging. Referrals to social work have been difficult. Is the system genuinely coping?
Education, Children and Young People Committee
Meeting date: 1 December 2021
Willie Rennie
A glib four.
Education, Children and Young People Committee
Meeting date: 24 November 2021
Willie Rennie
You will not get any disagreement from me on that, but the direction of travel that was indicated yesterday was that the education system should have a greater responsibility. I am intrigued about what that responsibility that is not being covered by other parts of the public service should be.
Education, Children and Young People Committee
Meeting date: 24 November 2021
Willie Rennie
I want to go back to the attainment challenge, which ties in with a wider question about the Government’s direction of travel. We all know that poverty impacts education and that the poverty-related attainment gap is quite wide. Who should lead on tackling poverty? The indication yesterday was that the education system would have a bigger role. It already has a role in trying to address the relationship between poverty and education, but the direction of travel was that the education system would have more of a role in that.
I do not have a fixed position on that—I am just interested in the direction of travel with regard to whether the education system, which already has many challenges, should have additional responsibilities on issues of poverty. Should the education system have a greater focus on education instead of a focus on wider issues, or should it expand its role to cover poverty issues, too?
10:00Education, Children and Young People Committee
Meeting date: 24 November 2021
Willie Rennie
What do you want teachers, schools and the education system to do? What extra thing could be done, or what extra responsibility could be taken on, to assist with the things that you have talked about?
Education, Children and Young People Committee
Meeting date: 24 November 2021
Willie Rennie
I have a question about the digital divide. In July last year, there were reports that, even though laptops and other digital devices had been purchased, they would not be distributed to the pupils who were in need until August. What was your experience of that? Did the system work quickly enough? Do you have any evidence to add to those reports?