Achi news desk-
While the political frisson continues, Scottish education is likely to slide down the agenda – but the identity of the First Minister of Scotland could have a huge impact on the state of education in the country, a point proven by considering Yousaf’s predecessor alone.
So with Scotland needing a new First Minister, what would be the best option for the future of education in Scotland?
John Swinney
The obvious and direct frontman, John Swinney is one of Holyrood’s most experienced politicians. He was also Education Secretary.
You may, therefore, be tempted to consider him a ‘safe pair of hands’ and, as a result, feel that he might be the best choice for the education sector. But there are a few problems.
Despite the time he spent there, Swinney was never a good or effective education secretary. It is all largely forgotten these days, but one of the defining events of his tenure was the humiliation of having to withdraw a flagship Education Bill.
The government had tried to force through changes that were opposed by almost everyone except the Tories, and when they eventually realized that only Conservative votes would get it over the line, it was decided that a public operation of u main policies were the best result. Eventually he was reduced to claiming that the Bill hadn’t really been necessary, and that all the things they wanted would happen anyway – but even he didn’t seem to believe that.
And then, of course, there was the 2020 results scandal for which Swinney was directly culpable. Exams had been canceled due to Covid, and grades were to be determined by teachers based on student work throughout the year. Some worried that the final results would upset their precious bell curves, so Swinney agreed to a plan that involved targeting pupils in the poorest schools for arbitrary gradual reductions. This, he told us, was to ensure fairness. After a week of defending the indefensible, and raising serious questions about his judgment, he was humiliated once again when he was forced to announce a complete U-turn.
Looking back over Swinney’s time in office the conclusions are quite clear: he was the wrong man for the job at the beginning, by the end, and most of those times.
Perhaps none of this would matter. Perhaps he could make a far greater contribution by appointing the right person to the job than he ever did in the job itself.
Everything is possible, although not equally possible.
Jenny Gilruth
Another name floating as a possible successor to Humza Yousaf is Jenny Gilruth. She is the current education secretary and is also a former teacher, a background you’d at least like to assume offers some extra insight into an incredibly complex sector.
Her appointment received a great deal of positivity from many in the teaching profession, who felt that having someone who had done the job in charge would certainly at least introduce a cabinet secretary who was not out of touch in complete and ignorant.
The teaching background has certainly helped – but only up to a point. Unfortunately, Gilruth has been unwilling or unable to break away from the rhetoric, and the long list of mistakes, that characterized the Sturgeon era, and as a result what could have been a transformative appointment has become one of continuity .
It seems that his own major effect so far has been to postpone and delay a wide range of education reforms, setting aside the huge amount of work that has already been done and instead announcing the creation of a Center for Teaching Excellence that was not no one has asked for it. .
The idea that Gilruth would be good for schools if she became an FM is based on the fact that she is a teacher, and the hope that this experience would positively influence her decisions. It could be true, but people said the same things about her being made Education Secretary and look where we are now.
Kate Forbes
The suggestion that Kate Forbes would have any sort of control over Scottish education policy would cause concern in some quarters and real fear in others.
Forbes is a member of the, shall we say, socially conservative Free Church of Scotland, a faith he chose to join based not on theology or philosophy but, according to Forbes himself, geography: the Free Church, he said in interview, was “just down the road.”
During the last leadership election, Forbes admitted to opposing equal marriage (or at least admitted to opposing equal marriage for gay people) and would have voted against its legalization in parliament. That last point, her willingness to use her political position to force her religious beliefs on everyone else, and withhold rights she enjoys from a minority group, was and continues to be a huge problem. Her subsequent promise not to return existing rights changes little.
One of the most effective and successful reforms to Scottish schools in recent years has been the introduction of LGBT inclusive education. No matter what assurances he tried to offer, the appointment of Kate Forbes as FM would be seen as a threat to that progress. Considering the type of people who would be celebrating, it would also send a pretty clear message to LGBT children across the country.
