Education

TEACH RESPONSIBLE CITIZENSHIP

• Ensure high quality Personal and Social Education. The Scottish Greens will build on our success in winning key improvements to Personal and Social Education, guaranteeing every pupil a PSE curriculum which covers topics such as consent-based sex education, LGBT+ inclusivity, and mental health.

TACKLE INEQUALITIES IN EDUCATION

The attainment gap remains stubbornly high in Scotland, with young people from lower-income backgrounds receiving far fewer opportunities than those from the most affluent communities.

We will:

• Expand in-school income maximisation programmes, ensuring that every school has an assigned family income advisor.
• Deliver free school meals all year round for all pupils. The Scottish Greens have already secured funding for free school meals for low income children during the holidays and the expansion of free school meals for all primary children. We will further expand this to secondary pupils.
• Introduce universal breakfast clubs. All schools will be supported to provide a free breakfast to those who want or need it.
• Tackle unnecessary school uniform costs.
• We will introduce statutory guidance on school uniforms which prioritises cost reduction, ensures overall spending limits and prohibits exclusivity agreements with suppliers.

SUPPORT TEACHERS TO TEACH

PRIMARY SCHOOLS

We believe that the focus during the first years of education should be on pupil health, happiness, and the development of social skills, rather than increasingly high homework burdens and frequent testing.

We will:

• Raise the school starting age to seven and introduce a kindergarten stage for three to six year olds. Scotland has an unusually early starting age for primary school, often pushing young children into a formal learning environment before they are ready. Raising the school starting age to seven will bring Scotland in line with countries like Finland, where attainment and wellbeing are higher. A play-based Kindergarten stage will prioritise physical activity, outdoor experiences, and building social skills. This will be led by qualified kindergarten teachers.
• End the routine use of homework in primary schools. There is a wealth of evidence indicating that homework does not lead to greater academic achievement and instead that many children simply develop a negative association with school work as a result of its use.

SECONDARY SCHOOLS

The Scottish Greens will work to ensure that secondary pupils are empowered to represent their own interests, that they are treatedfairly, able to attain qualifications that accurately reflect their abilities, are equipped with the skills and attributes which will allow them to thrive in adult life, and are supported through the challenges they may face in these formative years.

We will:

• Give all pupils equal access to Highers through investing in teachers and targeted interventions to support schools to introduce Higher courses they did not previously offer.
• Restructure National 5s to ensure adequate teaching time. We will review the structure of National 5 courses and qualifications to resolve the timetabling impossibility inherent in the existence of both a 160 hour course requirement and the availability of up to nine concurrent National 5 courses.
• Introduce a National 5 on Natural History, drawing on the recently developed Natural History GCSE course.
• Expand continuous assessment of coursework and reduce the role of exams. There is a growing recognition that high stakes, all-or- nothing exams are not the best way to measure how much a pupil knows or their ability to apply the skills they have developed. The Scottish Greens support moves towards using coursework and continuous assessment to contribute towards pupils’ grades to ensure that qualifications better reflect learning and ability. We would use such an assessment model to replace end of term exams.
• Ensure that schools have resources available to support the creation of independent Pupil Unions so that young people can have their voices heard in education.

ADDITIONAL SUPPORT NEEDS & MENTAL HEALTH

As we have developed a better understanding of additional support needs among young people, the number of pupils who are identified as in need of extra support has increased dramatically. Over a quarter of pupils in Scotland are identified as having an additional support need, with these needs varying dramatically in type and complexity. The vast majority of pupils with additional needs can be supported within mainstream schools with the right resources and the presumption to mainstream supports schools to do that. For young people with very high levels of additional needs, special schools will continue to provide the most appropriate education environment.

We will:

• Ensure counselling is available to all pupils by establishing a right to access school-based counselling provided by qualified practitioners.
• Recruit 2,500 more additional needs teachers over the next Parliament, halving the ASN teacher to pupil ratio.
• Make additional support needs teaching a promoted post to attract more teachers into the profession. To be registered as an additional support needs teacher, practitioners will need to undertake appropriate training and study.
• Ensure additional needs are covered in Initial Teacher Education and in Continuous
• Professional Learning opportunities, equipping all teachers with the core skills required to support pupils with additional needs.
• Establish formal recognition of further education qualifications for additional needs assistants and establish an accreditation and registration system through the General Teaching Council Scotland.
• Ensure access for statutory support plans. The Scottish Greens secured a review of Coordinated Support Plans (CSPs) in the last Parliament, in response to their significant decline. Following publication of the review’s findings we will take action to expand access to CSPs and revise the relevant statutory guidance.
• As we implement a peer-review inspection system, ensure additional support needs provision is appropriately prioritised and assessed.
• Support legislation to ensure all young people with additional needs have access to adequate support as they transition from school to adulthood.
• Ensure special schools are properly supported and receive the resources they need.

EDUCATION GOVERNANCE

Scotland’s national education agencies, the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) and Education Scotland, are not fit for purpose. Both bodies require urgent reform if they are to rebuild the trust they have lost and deliver the quality of support which is required of them but has been sorely lacking for many years.

We will:

• Replace inspections with peer review and self-evaluation. Following the successful example of Finland and others, we will end the routine use of national inspections and develop a new model of peer review and self-evaluation for teachers, overseen by Regional Improvement Collaboratives. National inspections will be restricted to cases of complaints or areas of concern.
• Establish an independent inspectorate. While peer review and self-evaluation are our goal for ensuring high standards in Scottish education, we will immediately end the conflict of interest inherent in Education Scotland, separating its curriculum development and inspection roles, and re-establishing an independent inspectorate.
• Establish a process for curricular review. We will consult with teachers, pupils, and other stakeholders to establish an appropriate cycle of regular curricular review, in line with international best practice.
• Replace the SQA board of  management. The current SQA board includes just one teacher, compared to three ‘management consultants’. We will replace it with a new model which places emphasis on professional qualifications and relevant experience in education. At least half of board members will be GTCS-registered teachers or lecturers and spaces will be reserved for union representatives, the Association of Headteachers and Deputes Scotland, Colleges Scotland, a Member of the Scottish Youth Parliament, and a representative of parents and carers.

UNIVERSITIES

The Scottish Greens believe that higher education should be free and accessible to all, regardless of income and background. Education at all levels is a social good and thriving, diverse universities are of benefit to society at large.

We will:

• Suspend interest payments on student loans during maternity and paternity leave to tackle the additional costs which overwhelmingly fall on women.
• Make additional university funding through the Scottish Funding Council contingent on commitments to eliminate casual and insecure contracts and to raise the wages of the lowest paid staff.
• Support students during the summer through a national hardship fund and the opportunity to rebalance bursaries and extend loan payments to stretch over the summer months.
• Widen access to higher education. Our student support proposals are designed to remove financial barriers to education and act on the findings and recommendations of the Commission on Widening Access.
• Resist marketisation. Scottish Greens support measures that will allow Scotland’s universities to oppose the marketisation of Higher Education and to distance themselves from mechanisms such as the
• Research Excellence Framework, Teaching Excellence Framework and other artificially competitive funding mechanisms.
• Support international students by continuing to place pressure on the UK government to enhance and expand the post-study work visa programme, providing graduates with more opportunities to stay in Scotland and contribute to their chosen field.
• Make an extra year of SAAS funding available for those who need it. The pandemic means some students, particularly those with childcare or other care commitments, may have to repeat a year. Any student who needs it will be entitled to the SAAS funding and support required to do so without cost.

COLLEGES & APPRENTICESHIPS

Colleges in Scotland provide vital access to further and higher education and are a major driver of

our economy, particularly in the sectors critical to a green recovery from the pandemic. The Scottish

Greens will continue to support moves to recognise the high professional standard of college lecturers and improve working conditions in the sector.

We will:

• Ensure funding parity for college and university students. We support a national entitlement to locally-delivered bursaries for all students in further education and will expand eligibility to 16 and 17 year olds. 
• We will also introduce a special support payment to ensure students on low income claiming welfare support are not penalised.
• Increase funding parity for delivering further education. Despite the important role colleges play in Scottish education, they receive roughly £1,400 less than universities in teaching grants per student.
• We will increase funding to colleges and re-introduce part time courses.
• Support the NUS Scotland Shaping Scotland’s Future campaign, including calls for financial support to increase with inflation, a benefits system that does not claw back student support payments, and improved services for students experiencing mental ill-health.
• Support measures to expand access to colleges and address the under-representation of people of colour in further education.
• Call for institutions to adequately fund college student associations and unions.
• Increase support for apprenticeships and ensure they pay at least the living wage regardless of age, work to break gender stereotypes, and increase opportunities for disabled people and people from minority ethnic groups. Government funding of apprenticeships should be contingent on these measures.
• Defend the role of college lecturers. A trend is emerging of colleges cutting lecturing posts and replacing them with instructor posts, expected to fulfil similar responsibilities but with poorer pay and conditions. We will make SFC funding of colleges conditional on an end to this practice and agreement on an appropriate minimum number of lecturing posts.

THE SCOTTISH GREENS WILL ALSO

Support appropriate international links

• Rejoin Erasmus+. We will negotiate directly with the European Commission to secure the greatest possible level of participation in the Erasmus+ scheme. In the event that the UK Government obstructs efforts to participate, we would challenge their right to do so through the courts.
• Remove Chinese regime influence from classrooms. The Confucius Programme is a propaganda tool of a state responsible for widespread and grievous human rights abuse. We will terminate ‘Confucius Classroom’  partnerships with Scottish schools, end cooperation with the programme by public bodies including colleges and initiate a review of the programme’s impact on academic freedom in the university sector.
• Support Rojava University. As a practical demonstration of support for the people of North & East Syria and the democratic, secular and feminist society established under their Autonomous Administration, we will encourage Scottish universities to establish links with the University of Rojava by funding RU students and staff who wish to work or study at a Scottish university.

Value youth work

• Support a right for all young people to access youth work opportunities.
• Integrate youth work into local and national mental health support and referral systems, including CAMHS and NHS Health Boards.
• Ensure all youth workers and volunteers are offered mental health and wellbeing training.