LABOUR - CLAUDIA BEAMISH

Our National Recovery Plan has five integrated parts.

Health, Community, Climate, Jobs and Education.

Education must be at the heart of everything.

As a teacher and youth worker before becoming an MSP, I worked with young children, high school students and those excluded from school for behaviour reasons.

I believe that education is a right. Different people are ready to learn different things at different times and in different ways.

I am also clear that second chances really matter!

To have the best chances in our rapidly changing world, robust family support is invaluable.

Not every family is able to offer this for a range of reasons, some personal and others to do with the inequality of our society, which impacts harshly on too many.

Looked after children face additional challenges and we have a deep responsibility to ensure they are well supported.

The closure of schools and the challenges faced by colleges and universities, due to the pandemic have been immense for learners, teachers and all staff alike. It has been particularly hard for those with additional needs and their families and carers.

Focusing on schools Scottish Labour’s Education Comeback Plan makes the following commitments:

■Scotland’s Comeback Tutoring Programme

■Personal Comeback Plan and mental wellbeing support for every pupil

■Resit guarantee ■Supporting our workforce ■Summer Comeback - Sports and Outdoor Education

For more detail check out my website claudiabeamish.com. I agree with calls by“teach the Future”, an alliance between the National Union of Students for climate education to be part of the curriculum.

Beyond school, education should be a life-long opportunity for us all. There must be better strategic direction for the development of skills of the future.

Young people should have the choice to stay in their communities, which means new approaches to learning the skills of the future.