Building on our education system
Next week, the Scottish Parliament recess draws to a close and we return to the regular weekly sittings in Edinburgh.
The summer is a very different period for me to the weeks in which Parliament is sitting for routine business.
Some might say it is a long summer holiday – it feels like my working days are not quite as long, principally due to the fact that I am not required to travel to Edinburgh on a daily basis.
The recess is an opportunity to be closer to home and to undertake the type of visits that can only be done when you have slightly more time on your hands.
I have, for example, been able to undertake surgeries in some of the smaller settlements in the constituency – Kirkmichael, Blair Atholl, Kinloch Rannoch, Ballinluig, Bankfoot, Luncarty, Meigle, Guildtown and Stanley.
These surgeries have of course complemented the programme of meetings that take place week in, week out, at my office in Leslie Street, Blairgowrie.
The recess also enables me to attend many local gala days and agricultural shows. Over this summer I have been to the Perth Show, Aberfeldy Show, Strathardle Highland Gathering, Rannoch Gathering, Bankfoot Gala, Blair Atholl Gathering and there remain two major events before the programme closes – the Pitlochry Games and our own Blairgowrie Highland Games, this Sunday.
These events are a much more informal opportunity to catch up with local residents and to identify issues that are of concern to members of the public on which I can be of some assistance.
I find that members of the public are much more likely to raise issues with you in such a setting than to come to your regular surgery events.
The parliamentary session will begin next Tuesday with the setting out, by the First Minister, of the Government’s programme.
This is the opportunity for the First Minister to take forward the commitments the government made in the election and to provide detail on how the measures will be delivered.
In my new role as Education Secretary, I have been working on these commitments over the summer, having made clear to Parliament in June the swift pace at which we would proceed to deliver our agenda. This week I have set out our measures to give much greater clarity to the teaching profession to deliver Curriculum for Excellence and to ensure that teachers can be free from bureaucracy to deliver the teaching upon which young people depend.
It is crucial that we free up our teaching resource to maximise the time available to support young people.
In the course of the next few weeks I will be setting out more measures to tackle bureaucracy in the teaching profession and the degree of assessment that young people in the senior phase of education have to handle.
I am determined to use the opportunity I have to strengthen what is a fundamentally sound education system and build it further for the future.
The young people of Scotland deserve no less.