Late and Lengthy Guidance for Teachers Issued with Letter from Cabinet Secretary for Education

On Monday morning, the Cabinet Secretary for Education, John Swinney, issued a letter to all teachers in Scotland along with links to three separate documents:

A Statement for Practitioners from HM Chief Inspector of Education August 2016 (6 Pages)

Benchmarks Numeracy and Mathematics Draft, August 2016 (43 pages)

Benchmarks Literacy and English Draft August 2016 (49 pages)

In his letter he says, 

"I accept in the last few years, that time (of teachers) has become cluttered by a plethora of guidance and advice that, however well intentioned, has led to increased workload, confusion and duplication. I am determined to tackle that problem."

While he promised to deliver this to teachers by the beginning of the new school year, he must be embarrassed that he has missed his target by two weeks with two of the documents unfinished and only issued in draft. Issuing almost one hundred pages of additional guidance may also suggest that he has not made a good start in simplifying and clarifying the priorities for our school teachers.

Clearly more documentation will need to be considered when the final versions of the Benchmarks for Maths and English are eventually circulated. I think, the length and ambition of the new documents mean that it will be difficult for our Head Teachers to find collective time to work out with their staff what this means for their schools until the next CPD days in November. 

This is a disappointing start from the Cabinet Secretary for Education.

Link to Guidance and Benchmarks

Significant Changes in S4 Subject Choices in Dundee Secondary Schools

I raised this issue on the Agenda of the Education Committee on Monday night because I believe we should be monitoring and responding to the effects of switching from Standard Grades to the new National 4 and 5 examinations.

I want to make it clear that my observations should in no way be seen as a criticism of the examination results of our pupils nor their teachers in our schools. My comments should be seen as issues we should acknowledge and respond to in the current school year.

What was noticed when the changes to the examinations were first flagged up to pupils, parents and carers was the reduction in 25% of the subjects that our young people could enter in their S4 examinations. Whereas an S4 pupil could undertake 8 standard grade courses, with the new National 4 and 5 examinations only 6 subject courses could be followed throughout S4. This reduction seemed to be at odds with the aims of Curriculum for Excellence promoting a broad general education. Some of our secondary teachers had concerns about the effect on fewer choices on the number of senior pupils electing to take their particular subject. Many parents were concerned that this reduction in choice would involve not being able to gain the necessary breadth of qualifications to undertake a particular career.

Now we have some figures it is possible to see that some subjects have suffered from very significant reductions in pupil numbers in S4. Comparing 2012/13 when pupils last took Standard Grades with the first year of taking the new National 4 and 5 examinations, there has been a very big reduction in our young people taking a modern language. An 86% reduction in French, 65% reduction in German and a 21% reduction in Spanish. 666 pupils in classes taking a standard grade modern language (General and Credit classes) in 2013/14 as against 171 taking a National 4 or National 5 class in 2013/14. Changes like this are likely to have a profound effect on the number of young people taking a modern language at Higher. Advanced Higher and subsequently at University. It will also have an effect on the number of language teachers we can maintain in our schools; weakening rather than strengthening this area of the curriculum.

The second issue arises from recommendations from the Curriculum for Excellence Management Board Report This working group reviewed the experience of the first year of the new qualifications and produced a report with recommendations for teachers, local authorities and national bodies about tackling the 'significant and unsustainable level of over assessment (of pupils undertaking National 4 and 5 courses)in many parts of the system.'

With all these issues, I think that parents and carers, pupils and their teachers as well as members of the Education Committee are entitled to know how we will be supporting our secondary schools to respond to these issues in the current school year and beyond.                          

Two Constructive Meetings

On Friday morning, I attended two meetings which both had constructive outcomes. 

At 09:30, I attended the quarterly meeting of the Education Review Group in one of the Council's Committee Rooms off City Square. This group has a diverse and inclusive membership including Head Teachers, Parents/Carers and Pupils representing their their respective city wide Councils, Education Directorate, Trade Union Representatives and Councillors and is chaired by The Chief Executive, David Dorward. We explored a number of  current issues in our Schools, especially the implementation of the Curriculum for Excellence. I can't write anymore about this as I am bound by a restriction on publicising the content of the meeting.

At 12 noon I caught up with a meeting at the Castle Green Leisure Centre in The Ferry which had started at 11:00. This was the first meeting of a group interested in being involved in planning a series of events to mark the centenary of Broughty Ferry becoming part of Dundee in October 1913. This meeting had been convened by Carole Jenkins our Communities Officer. This group identified a long list of possible activities which might be brought together into a year long programme. It sounds as though we might have a diverse range of activities to look forward to in 2013. The only restriction seems to be that we can't call this a celebration as opinion is apparently divided about the wisdom of the Ferry throwing in its lot with Dundee. Further information about this group from:
carole.jenkins@dundeecity.gov.uk

Council Meetings Monday 11 June 2012 - My Contributions

Last night we had a series of Council Committee meetings. There were fairly full agendas following the lengthy gap in meetings because of the elections. 


These are the questions and contributions I made.  


Environment Committee
Item 4 Dawson Park Environmental Improvements
"Convener, I welcome the important improvements to Dawson Park detailed in this report. By erecting a fence to curb indiscriminate parking and vehicle turning at the Dunottar Place entrance, the grass will be protected. The extension of the existing network of paths to connect to the play area should help adults and children by improving the underfoot conditions.
It is also positive to see the recycling of building materials. I think this is the second example of fencing being recycled and reused in Dawson Park."


Policy and Resources Committee
Item 8 Supply of IT Equipment
"Convener this is an interesting report in that it details the spend on a range of IT equipment clarifying the types of equipment in which we have invested. It is remarkable in three ways: 

• £696,000, has been spent over a fifteen week period on computers, net books, whiteboards and the majority of the expenditure has been in our schools;
• I am reassured that a national portal for procurement has been used. 
• What however is remarkable in a negative way is the absence of any data on output and outcome measures. How many computers have been purchased for example? What are the anticipated outcomes of their deployment and installation in our schools and other services?

I think that we need and deserve a more detailed report in future when we are investing such a considerable amount of money year on year."


Policy and Resources Committee 
Item 11 Dundee Strategy for the Safe Use of Electronic Communications
"Convener, I welcome this report and the care it demonstrates in promoting the safe use of electronic communications, especially though not exclusively with children in our schools. 
There are many potential dangers which have arisen with the new media which the report refers to. For example, providing new opportunities to bully, swindle, embarrass, steal identities and groom victims. I do think it is right that that we should warn parents, carers, children and young people and vulnerable adults and the staff that work with them about the potential dangers. I do however think we need more emphasis in our schools and and homes on developing discriminating users of electronic media. I think this is potentially embraced in the four capacities at the heart of the Curriculum for Excellence - our aspiration that all our young people should become:

• successful learners,
• confident individuals,
• responsible individuals and
• responsible individuals."

Convener and Director of Education Plough on Regardless

I was disappointed that the Education Convener and the SNP group of Councillors together with the Director of Education should have been so opposed to my amendment at the Education Committee on Monday night 26 March.

It was strange that they opposed an opportunity for even a small minority of subject departments in some of our secondary schools to have the option to defer entering pupils for the new National 4 and 5 examinations and take the existing Intermediate assessments. But this was only where this was the best interests of the pupils involved.  

I was surprised that they chose to ignore this opportunity since it had been provided by the Cabinet Secretary for Education, Mike Russell MSP, in his letter last week. 

In the same letter he promised some extra cash for Councils to help prepare teaching and learning materials for the new curriculum and the opportunity for secondary teachers to be granted two additional in-service training days. Since my amendment also included using the extra cash and taking the in-service days was defeated, I understand that the Director will need to return to a future meeting of the Education Committee if he changes his mind and wants to make use of these.

Curriculum for Excellence in Dundee Must Provide Best Options for Our Secondary School Pupils

At the Education Committee tonight, I will be arguing that there is an alternative to the Director’s one size fits all flow charts and timetables for curriculum for excellence in our Secondary Schools.

Let’s not kid ourselves that it’s all under control and everything in the educational garden is lovely.  In recent workforce surveys many teachers in Scotland have indicated their lack of preparation for and confidence in delivering the new curriculum and preparing their pupils for the new examinations.  Although the recent letter from the Cabinet Secretary for Education is last minute, it offers some additional cash and some opportunities for opt outs from the new examinations.

The motion I will be presenting to the Committee tomorrow evening will provide an opportunity to pause and take stock rather than ploughing on regardless.

We need our secondary schools and their subject departments to honestly explore the possibility of deferring entering their pupils for the new exams and taking the existing Intermediate assessments instead. We must be guided by the overriding principle that we must always do what is best for our pupils who only get one shot at this.

We should not be over influenced by the Director’s grand design but rather take account of the reality of readiness in every department in every one of our secondary schools.  I am sure many subjects departments and many teachers are relatively confident about the big changes ahead and will take these in their stride. But it would be surprising if some departments in some schools would not benefit from the opportunity to make use of the special measures which the Cabinet Secretary for Education has made available for every secondary school in Scotland.

Finally, we need a report in early June that appraises councillors of the real choices that are to be put before pupils, parents and carers before the end of the summer term.

Confusion from Contrasting Advice About Readiness of our Secondary Schools for Curriculum for Excellence

This week Councillors in Dundee have received contrasting advice about preparations for the next phase of Curriculum for Excellence in Dundee secondary schools. In contrast to the confident tones of the Director of Education’s report issued for the Education Committee on Monday 26b March, we have been circulated with a letter from the Cabinet Secretary for Education, Mike Russell MSP, that concedes:
more help is needed to ‘ensure all secondary schools move confidently to the next stage of implementation (of Curriculum for Excellence)’. Mike Russell is providing £3.5 Million for secondary schools to buy in supply cover while specific teachers have dedicated time to prepare course materials. This would work out at about £110,000 for Dundee.  I also notice that parents and carers have been asked to stump up for cover at home when two additional in-service days are held and their children will be off school.

So what are councillors to make of this apparently contrasting advice?
Are we ready or not?
Are these additional in-service days necessary in Dundee when preparations for Curriculum for Excellence are apparently so advanced?

Introduction of the New Secondary School Exams - Call for Clarity in Dundee

A poll by the Scottish Secondary Teachers’ Association (SSTA) has revealed that 45% of secondary schools in Scotland are still allowing pupils to choose exam subjects at the end of second year.
The SSTA survey was reported in The Herald on Saturday 18 February.

The move runs counter to official guidance from the Scottish Government on the new Curriculum for Excellence which seeks to give pupils a broad-based education up until the end of S3.

It is only at that point pupils are supposed to choose which subjects they will sit under the new National 4 and National 5 exams – which replace Standard Grade and Intermediate qualifications.

The Cabinet Secretary for Education has previously spoken out on the issue after East Renfrewshire Council's decision to allow S2 pupils to choose subjects.

However, it is clear from the SSTA survey that such delays are far more widespread. 

The SSTA survey shows very clearly that, many schools are ignoring the Cabinet Secretary's advice and retaining subject choice in S2 rather than S3.

It is not clear from the reporting of the SSTA survey whether any of our nine Dundee Secondary Schools are part of the 45% of secondary schools taking their own decisions about moving towards the new examinations.

Members of the Education Committee has been kept in the dark about what is planned in Dundee by the Education Directorate. Under protest, I have received an assurance from the Director of Education that a detailed report on Curriculum for Excellence will be coming up at an early meeting of the Education Committee. I hope we will have an opportunity to postpone Dundee pupils taking the new examinations if there is any doubt that not to do so would disadvantage these pupils who would otherwise act as guinea pigs for the new examinations.

One anxiety often reported to me by parents with children in S2 is that their children will be restricted to taking six subjects in the new National 4 and National 5 examinations examined at the end of S4. This is a 25% reduction from the current eight subjects at standard grade. The new curriculum for excellence is meant to broaden the education of pupils, but this restriction on courses in S4 appears to prematurely and abruptly close off career and educational options for senior pupils. It is disappointing if all the upheaval of a new curriculum and new examinations is leading to a backward step rather than some tangible improvements.

I think the case for delaying the transition to the new exams gets stronger by the day.

Dundee pupils, parents and teachers deserve better.

Curriculum for Excellence in Dundee - Urgent Local and National Changes Required

Now that the 33 period week has been abandoned in Dundee, parents and carers and members of the Education Committee need to know how our nine secondary schools will progress the new S3 which will run for the first time from August 2012. We also need to know how the senior phase, S4-S6, will be structured. The first students undertaking the new S4 on Curriculum for Excellence will begin their studies in August 2013. This year of study will lead up to the examinations, National 4 and 5, in May 2013. 

Although the new S4  was not strictly part of the consultation about the 33 period week, it was inquired about by parents at both of the consultation events I attended at Grove Academy and Morgan Academy. The biggest bone of contention is the narrowed number of subjects that each pupil will apparently be able take in S4. Pupils will only be able to take a maximum of six subjects at National 4 or 5, the new exams, compared with a maximum of eight subjects at Standard Grade, which are being phased out.  While a model of the the new 'senior phase' (S3-S6) has been sent to the Head Teachers in our nine secondary schools, there has not been a cheep to the Education Committee. This should be remedied at the next Education Committee. I have written to the Council requesting that this is added to the agenda of the next meeting of the Education Committee.

This narrowing of subject choice in S4 seems at odds with the stated aspirations of the Curriculum for Excellence which was supposed to provide a more comprehensive broad general education. It seems we may have had all this upheaval to make S3 a general year with a wider number of subjects while postponing exams until S4 when there would be 25% fewer subject choices.

But not all these issues can be fixed on the spot in Dundee; some need attention at the national level by the Cabinet Secretary for Education, Mike Russell. 

For example, the slow pace of details being released by the Scottish Qualifications Authority about the new National Four and Five examinations is reducing the long term planning time in secondary schools. This could be remedied by a one year postponement of implementing the introduction of the new examinations and continuing with Standard Grades for another year. In similar circumstances in England, the government have been prepared to allow twelve months more for preparing for an important educational change. Last week we learned that in East Renfrewshire, a Labour/SNP led council has decided to postpone putting its pupils in for the new exams by one year.

  

If we don't take this decision to postpone in the next few weeks, timetables will be written for next year and we will be saddled with a change that is being rushed in without the confidence of teachers, parents and carers that this is neither the right change nor the right timescale for the new exams.

If I met Michael Russell, the Cabinet Secretary for Education, these are the four key questions I should want to ask him about making a success of the Curriculum for Excellence in Dundee schools:

• Why, while advocating a broader general education via curriculum for excellence, is choice actually going to be decreased by a quarter in S4? What has he got to say to the parents who have already complained about the effects of this reduced number of choices in S4 on the options for their child in meeting entrance requirements for some University courses?
  
• Why has the Cabinet Secretary gone out of his way to antagonise teachers by cutting their conditions of work and their pensions at a time when he needs their undivided professional attention to make a success of implementing the Curriculum for Excellence and the new examinations?
  
• Why has be allowed the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) to get so far behind providing the documentation for schools and teachers so that they can adequately prepare themselves and their senior pupils for the new exams to be sat for the first time in May 2014? Many parent are worried that their children are the unfortunate guinea pigs for all these changes.
  
• Many secondary teachers feel they are under prepared and the changes in the Senior Phase (S4-S6) of Secondary Schools are being rushed. Many parents have reservations too. Will he now provide another year of preparation time for the new examinations and review the limits on subject choices in S3/4?

Should we Delay the Introduction of the New National Exams in Dundee Secondary Schools?

Now that the 33 period week has been abandoned in Dundee, parents and carers and members of the Education Committee need to know how our nine secondary schools are planning the new S3, which will run for the first time from August 2012. We also need to know how the senior phase, S4-S6, will be structured. The first students undertaking the new S4 on Curriculum for Excellence will begin their studies in August 2013. This year of study will lead up to the examinations, National 4 and 5, in May 2014.
Earlier this week, East Refrewshire Council announced that they had decided to delay by a year putting their secondary pupils in for the new National 4 and 5 Examinations. Current S2 pupils in Dundee will be amongst the first to sit these in June 2014. Teachers' leaders have also voiced concerns that many secondary teachers do not feel adequately prepared for the next phase of implementing the Curriculum for Excellence. This is not a vote of confidence in the Scottish Government’s plans for the Curriculum for Excellence which frankly seem to be unravelling.
In Dundee we need to know whether the Education Convener, Liz Fordyce has a Plan B for our secondary schools? More specifically, will she give an absolute guarantee that the resources are in place and that teachers in all our nine secondary schools will be ready for the next phase of the introduction of the Curriculum for Excellence and preparing their pupils for the new examinations? If not, will she stand by her pupils and give their teachers an additional year to prepare for the new examinations while continuing with Standard Grades? This would allow one more year of preparation for our secondary teachers. 
While I appreciate that she is standing down as a Councillor in May, I hope, for the sake of the pupils involved, she is looking further ahead. It's not Liz Fordyce's education which is at risk, nor mine. We can’t afford to gamble with the education of our children.

Education Committee Decisions Last Monday

At the Education Committee last week (Monday 23rd January 2012) we took three key decisions.

The first was to approve the school holidays for the 2013/14. This follows the new pattern of holidays which incorporate the October holiday in the second and third weeks of October. It is helpful to declare school holidays a long time ahead as these days many parents and carers make holiday arrangements a long time ahead. This allows them to do so with the confidence that they know when they can arrange their family holidays without compromising the education of their children.

Secondly, the committee approved the four classroom extension to Kingspark School at a cost just exceeding £1m. I was fully behind this expenditure but had previously voiced concern that the council had put the cart before the horse by seeking planning permission for the proposed building work in advance of seeking approval from the Education Committee. The inclusion of architectural drawings at the Education Committee and the City Architect available on hand to answer questions, provided reassurance that a development was appropriate to the needs of the children with multiple and profound disabilities that attend Kingspark and the short timescale had not compromised proper preparation of the proposal.

Thirdly, the Education Committee were advised that following a period of consultation, the proposal for a standardised 33 period week in each of our nine secondary schools had been dropped because it had failed to persuade parents, carers and teachers of its merit. Incorporated in this design was a proposal for a daily twenty minute period of Tutor time where pupils would met their, Tutor or Key Adult. This is defined as follows in the documentation for Curriculum for Excellence: 'All children and young people should have frequent opportunities to discuss their learning with an adult who can act as a mentor, helping them to set appropriate goals for the next stages in learning.'

I asked for reassurance that the provision of each pupil's entitlement for a Key Adult would be honoured in each of our secondary schools notwithstanding the 33 period week proposal falling.

Most importantly I extracted a commitment from the Director of Education, that he would report to an early meeting of the Education Committee about the Council's proposals for the senior phase (S4-S6) and the new S3 running for the first time from August 2012. Most controversial in these changes is likely to be the restriction to six subject choices in the new National 4 and 5 exams to be taken at the end of S4. This is 25% fewer choices than the maximum number currently available with Standard Grades which are to phased out. We were also promised that, before the middle of February, parents and carers would be invited in to their child's secondary school for a briefing on the latest phase of implementation of curriculum for excellence. It is curious that the really important decisions about plans for what will takes place in the classroom, are kept at arms length from the Committee by the Convener of the Committee and the Director of Education. 

Schoool Inspectors to the Rescue Over Curriculum for Excellence

HM Inspectors of Education are to be diverted from their work inspecting secondary schools beginning next school session. For five months from August to the turn of the year, inspectors will drafted in to support the roll-out of the controversial curriculum for excellence. This unusual move took place against a background of growing concern that secondary schools not being ready for the introduction of the Curriculum for Excellence in August.

According to a recent HMIE report, half of secondary schools are only at an early stage of introducing the changes.

And a survey of Scottish Secondary Teachers’ Association (SSTA) members found 89% needed more subject resources, while 84% said training was inadequate.

The suspension of inspections in our secondary schools will apparently free up to 100 inspectors to help introduce the new curriculum.

This seems to be a panic measure ‘papering over the cracks’ over the introduction of the Curriculum for Excellence. Mike Russell Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning is not dealing with the problems. Inspectors can’t deliver CfE, that responsibility rests with the teachers. By telling the inspectorate to suspend inspections and set aside their other responsibilities, such as progressing government policy on bullying in schools, the government is effectively abandoning its commitments to monitor the state of school buildings or improving school standards. The government is desperate, as the evidence of its mismanagement of the implementation of Curriculum for Excellence accumulates, to be seen to be doing something. But to stop HMIe from doing its normal job and send the inspectors in as the cavalry to ‘rescue’ the Curriculum for excellence just shows unfortunately how bad things have become.

Last Minute Measures Confirm Secondary Schools not Ready for Curriculum for Excellence

This morning, Mike Russell the Cabinet Secretary for Education & Lifelong Learning in the SNP led Scottish Government, tried to shore up the introduction of the Curriculum for Excellence. He announced a number of hastily assembled proposals to try to win over the substantial proportion of secondary teachers who are sceptical they are ready to introduce the new Curriculum for Excellence in mid August when the new school year begins. Amongst Mike Russell's panic measures is to charge two educational experts with the task of summarising the blizzard of guidance that has been already issued to schools and teachers; in fact more than 900 pages so far. With only nine more weeks until the end of term, time is running out. These last minute measures, far from spreading confidence, in fact confirm the worries that have been voiced nationally.

The scale of unease of secondary school teachers was confirmed independently by a recent Ipsos-Mori survey conducted for the Scottish government. The results showed that only 25% of secondary teachers say they have had good training on the new curriculum. Three in four secondary teachers also said they were not confident about delivering lessons for senior pupils.

When I have raised my concerns about the readiness of our schools in Dundee to implement Curriculum for Excellence, Elizabeth Fordyce, the Education Convener has said I am being negative. Perhaps now that the Scottish Government's own research confirms a crisis of confidence amongst secondary teachers, our SNP led council can join with the reasonable voices of those who argue that the introduction of the Curriculum for Excellence should be postponed for a year.

Lets talk about "Education" at The Education Committee

Last week I put some questions to Elizabeth Fordyce, the Education Convener, via the pages of the Courier. I wanted to know about progress in our schools in Dundee preparing for the introduction of the Curriculum for Excellence in August. I asked whether we are ready for this in Dundee? I think this is my duty as a Councillor passionate about improving the attainment and achievement of our children and Labour's Spokesperson on Education. I think it is not negative to enquire about the most significant change in Education in a generation. Very important changes are afoot including the replacement of Standard Grade examinations in our secondary schools. Is there anything else that might help the smooth and successful introduction of Curriculum for Excellence in our schools in August?

Some readers may wonder why this debate is going on the pages of the local papers and not in the Education Committee of the Council. If they were to look at the Agenda of the meeting tonight, they they would find a single item which invites members of the Education Committee to give the go ahead to three tenders for minor building works in three schools. I have no doubt that the upgrading of the toilets at St Ninian's Primary School, the renewal of corridor fire doors in Braeview Academy and the removal of small amounts of asbestos from the Frances Wright Pre- School Centre will be most welcome in each of these establishments. Readers can be assured that members of the committee will want to know that tenders for these works offer value for money for council tax payers and that the removal of minor amounts of asbestos from the Frances Wright Centre will be by a specialist contractor and at a time when children and staff are not in the Centre. If Convener Fordyce wants to have a constructive debate about education, and not just buildings, she should bring forward a progress report about the Introduction of the Curriculum for Excellence to the Education Committee. Lets talk about teaching and learning at The Education Committee and not just toilet upgrades, and replacing corridor fire doors.

Are Dundee Schools Ready for Curriculum for Excellence in August?

In recent weeks in the Scottish Parliament questions have been asked of Mike Russell Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning as to the whether he believes Scotland is ready for the introduction of the Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) in August. Doubts have been raised by Scotland’s teaching unions, especially over the introduction of a replacement for Standard Grade examinations which has not yet been settled. Mike Russell has stated that he will listen to teachers and the CfE’s management board, which is overseeing its implementation, if they tell him another delay is needed. He has promised a decision before the summer but warned he will not implement a 'delay for delay’s sake' because teachers are finding the changes difficult. The CfE, is designed to change the way pupils are taught. It encourages subjects to be combined to deliver classes, rather than being taught in isolation.

But is Dundee ready for the most significant change in Scottish Education in a generation? It seems careless to begin its introduction in our Secondary schools in August when the examinations for which pupils will be preparing, and to which teachers will be teaching, is still not in place. Alarmingly for parents and carers whose children enter our High Schools and Academies in August, their children will be the guinea pigs sitting these new examinations instead of Standard Grades. My oldest son was in the year group that took Standard grades in the year they were introduced and I know how much uncertainty and challenge that brought; but this is a more significant set of changes.

In my conversations with teachers, it is usually conceded the it will be easier for Primary and Nursery Schools to put CfE into practice and in fact it is already being tried out with sections of the new curriculum being introduced this year. However it will be more challenging for our Secondary Schools. Secondary teachers are mostly subject specialists used to teaching rigid timetabled classes. It will be a real challenge for them to make the change towards delivering more thematic and cross curricular teaching and learning in S1 to S3.

Is the Education Convener, Elizabeth Fordyce, convinced that everything is in place in Dundee schools for implementation of the CfE in August? Is she sure that this can be achieved without disadvantaging our children about to enter secondary school? Will she join those voices calling on Mike Russell to stop dithering and announce a delay to the introduction of CfE until August 2011?