Scottish Union for Education – Newsletter No159

It’s election day tomorrow, and we’re hoping that – whoever gets in – the state of education in Scotland will improve.

Sadly, while education in schools has arguably never been so politicised, there is at the same time a rather limited political discussion about education within and among the political parties.

The only consensus appears to be around banning mobile phones, but this, like a number of other issues that are raised, is either to miss the point or has nothing to do with education.

A disciplined school, for example, with disciplined teachers, would not need to ban phones, although they may still decide to do so.

The Greens win the prize for talking about everything other than education – poverty being the key issue that MSPs like Maggie Chapman focus on.

Talking about reducing poverty can be discussed on its own terms, but we still need to address the falling standards and the knowledge-light education that is limiting the potential of children in Scotland. Talk of education being ‘fair, inclusive and properly resourced’ does nothing to address the problems we face, but then the therapeutic social justice ideas of the Greens are already embedded in our schools, so it is no wonder that they cannot see the problems, let alone address them.

Even the issue of indiscipline is reduced to issues of ‘poverty, trauma [and] inequality’ by Chapman.

The Greens are interesting to look at, partly because the wish list they present for education is what is already happening and what has created the problems we now face.

For them, reforming the curriculum for excellence simply means more of the same: less homework, fewer exams, the scrapping of assessments, and a bit more politics in the form of climate justice and trade union ‘education’. The evils of fossil fuels via the Industrial Revolution and of empire and slavery are also to be prioritised in schools if the Greens get their way – as if this is one-eyed and miserable view of the world is not already being taught in many schools.

For Labour, there is a similar sense that ‘throwing money at it’ will save the day – a pledge to hire 2000 ‘education recovery’ specialist teachers to address literacy and numeracy gaps being one example of this. Whatever one thinks about this, at least there is a recognition here that there is a serious problem in terms of the falling levels of the basics in schools, which is one of the reasons that we are producing a pamphlet on reading.

There is also a growing recognition of the knowledge-light nature of the curriculum at the moment, with Labour and especially the Tories and Reform pushing this. The Tories and Reform are both arguing for self-governing schools, like the Michaela Community School in England run by Katharine Birbalsingh. Reform is also pushing for standardised tests and exams as a primary method of assessment.

With the growing use of AI, there is a serious problem with essays and continuous assessment methods being used to assess both school and university students. Despite this, most people in education, especially those who run institutions, are continuing to ignore this development. Exams have always been a useful form of assessment. Today, the need for exams has never been more urgent to prevent qualifications becoming increasingly meaningless.

Interestingly, in terms of AI, if you ask Google about the political parties’ policies on education, it lists all the main parties except Reform. It’s a common joke in my office at work that AI is a social justice warrior, and it rarely fails to deliver. But on the plus side, when schoolchildren and university students use it to write their assessments, they can be fairly confident that the ‘correct’ political perspective dished out by their AI friend will be in line with the opinions of their activist educators.

Talking of which, it’s worth checking out the EIS Manifesto for education. Here, once again, you’ll find nothing about education itself, and an awful lot about how to indoctrinate children. They even warn that if political parties don’t adopt their proposals, cynicism will rise among voters and will be ‘exploited by populists and those even further on the right wing of politics’.

I can appreciate that unions have always tended to be on the left, but I’m fairly confident that in the not-too-distant past, turning educational institutions into left-wing training camps would have been seen as, at the very least, creepy and wrong, if not damn right Orwellian.

Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to thank Katharine Birbalsingh and James Sibley for speaking to us last week.

James, in case you don’t know him, is an aspiring headteacher who, after working with Katharine for seven years is now trying to set up his own school in Ayr.

This discussion was probably the most useful and interesting one we’ve had since we set up. Not least of all because of what Katharine explained in terms of the ‘values’ that her school promotes. What she said was so straightforward and embodied so much common sense, but at the same time, is so radical in today’s times. I’ll explain what I mean next week, but it goes to the heart of everything that is wrong with Scottish education.

Katharine is an inspiration for anyone who wants to transform schools. From nothing she created the best school in the UK in a matter of years. Why is everyone not trying to learn from her? As I will explain next week, hopefully with a recording of the conversation, her common-sense approach to education hits at the very heart of our social justice educators, and despite, indeed because of her success, she is hated for this.

The SUE Manifesto for Education

Below we reprint the SUE Manifesto for Education. We launched the Manifesto at the event with Katharine, and James and are now collecting signatures from anyone who would like to put their name to it. More than this, we want people to let us know what they think of the Manifesto. What do you think we get right and wrong? And how might it be improved? Education is all about ideas. We need clear ideas about education to make a difference in the world. Sign up and get involved in the discussion.

The Scottish Union for Education believes our education system needs radical reform. We have a crisis in schools and colleges that won’t be solved by rebranding quangos, changing ministers, or more breakfast clubs. What we really need is a major cultural shift to roll back the radical teaching reforms that have taken place over the past two decades. We need to return to a system which places knowledge at its heart.

Knowledge is not, as the radicals suggest, simply about filling children’s heads with facts, or as the neuroscientists argue, extending their long-term memory. Knowledge is our inheritance, everything we have learnt in the arts, humanities and sciences and everything we have added to the world that is innovative, beautiful and meaningful. Introducing our children to this common resource is the purpose of education. We need to revive this knowledge-based approach, and to reject the soft skills and wellbeing agendas that currently shape our education. This radical reform is urgently needed to provide young Scots with the abilities, and understanding, they need to make their way in a changing world.

So much of Scotland’s cultural inheritance is bound up with an enthusiasm for learning and intellectual curiosity. In To a Louse, Robert Burns wrote about the great gift of seeing ‘ourselves as others see us’. It was a celebration of our capacity to make judgements without personal bias, emotion or self-interest, the idea that we could all be objective, given a good education. With objectivity came a serious expansion of human knowledge, the extension of the right to vote and the idea that everyone could contribute to public life. Until very recently we had one of the best education systems in the world because, as a society, we placed a high value on reason and imagination. Our forefathers took science, literature and history seriously and recognised their importance in all aspects of life, from national economics to personal development.

When Scotland introduced the Curriculum for Excellence in 2010, it abandoned that precious legacy. This is not an overstatement; we should not underestimate how impoverished and mechanistic our education system has become. Today’s school leavers seem to know much less than their parents and grandparents. Their learning is narrow and yet unfocused; their homework is dull and formulaic. Teachers complain that they are encouraged to ‘teach to the test’, rather than risk introducing children to potentially redundant ‘information’.

The fact that such large numbers of children are absent from school suggests that the education system, without knowledge at its heart, has lost its core sense of purpose. School seems to have left Gen Z less curious, and more anxious, than preceding generations. It would be easy to blame war, technology, politicians and mobile phones for this motivational crisis. Society, families, and changes in technology undoubtedly play a role, but Scotland needs to take a long hard look at its education system and the flawed theories on which it is based.

The SNP government has used the absence of curriculum content to politicise schools and universities. School values are no longer related to education and personal development, but the government agendas. The General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) now argues that Social Justice - trans ideology, Critical Race Theory and zero-carbon agendas are professional ideals. Under the cover of professional standards, ethics and inclusion, many PGDE teacher training courses operate a McCarthy-like culture that demands political conformity. Trainees are still, despite the Cass Report, being ‘taught’ that it’s OK to hide the social transitioning of a child from their parents.

Not satisfied with training the next generation to ‘toe the party line’, there is a growing trend to rewrite history and to condemn previous generations for their attitudes on women, race and sexuality. Our common history is rarely treated as a source of inspiration, but understood instead as a realm of abuse and violence. This contempt for our predecessors is a deeply destructive cultural phenomenon.

Restoring a culture that places a high value on intellectual curiosity and wants to learn from the past, will not be easy. Change is something that must begin with parents and teachers rather than with politicians.

1. Dump the Curriculum for Excellence and put knowledge back at the heart of education.

2. Drop all policies that undermine the authority of the teacher and their expertise.

3. Create a system of standard assessment, particularly for reading ages.

4. Outlaw McCarthyism in the General Teaching Council for Scotland and PGDE courses.

5. Support our libraries, museums, theaters and galleries to give children an inspiring introduction to the achievements of past generations.

6. Stop teaching transgender ideology and critical race theory to children.

7. Give Parent Councils power to hold schools to account.

Please share this manifesto with your friends and family and discuss it with anyone interested in the election and the future of education. Vote for the candidate in your area that recognises the need for education reform.

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A selection of the main stories with relevance to Scottish education in the press in recent weeks, by Simon Knight.

https://www.johnsmithcentre.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2026_Youth-Poll-Report_DIGITAL.pdf Loose, E., Greenwood-Hau, J., Barnes, E., et. al. (2026). UK Youth Poll 2026.

https://archive.ph/I8GCv Joanna Williams, Is it any wonder young people won’t fight for Britain? 22/04/26

https://archive.ph/Gc5HE Eir Nolsoe, Two thirds of UK teenagers to have mental health problem by 2030. Report finds disorders such as anxiety, depression and ADHD already affect 51pc of 15 to 19-year-olds. 29/04/26

https://archive.ph/YT6wl Janet Murray, Even mentioning JK Rowling’s name gets you cancelled by the pro-trans mob. The chair of a charity was forced to apologise for not demonising the Harry Potter author in an interview. 29/04/26

https://dailysceptic.org/2026/04/28/will-teaching-teenage-boys-that-masculinity-is-toxic-really-reduce-violence-against-women-and-girls/ Stuart Waiton, Will Teaching Teenage Boys That Masculinity is Toxic Really Reduce Violence Against Women and Girls? 28/04/26

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/prison-service-could-face-avalanche-37073120 Mark McGirvern, Women locked up with men in jail could spark barrage of legal claims for prison service. Solicitor predicts SPS’s trance stance will lead to a huge legal headache. 27/04/26

Read some Piaget please!@prof_curiosity1

https://t.co/kthaj84HDU

5:50 AM · Apr 30, 2026 · 138K Views

49 Replies · 417 Reposts · 1.16K Likes

Read Some Piaget Please, Where were all the trans children?

https://archive.ph/a0JgU Kathleen Stock, The rewriting of campus history This week’s Sussex judgment ignores reality. 01/05/26

Joanna Williams, The collapse of moral responsibility, Why work no longer has meaning. 01/05/26

https://archive.ph/FIDhH Julie Bindel, How inclusive Iceland succumbed to ‘trans madness’. Once a beacon of progress, the Nordic country has become an authoritarian ‘gender Gilead’, and its citizens are terrified for the future. 28/03/26

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