Ex-teachers attack named person plans
FORMER teachers attacked plans to appoint a named person for every child during a ministerial event in Glasgow.
Social Justice Secretary Alex Neil was criticised as members of the public were asked for their views on how to create a “Fairer Scotland.”
The event, at the disused Govanhill Baths, was tabled as a discussion rather than a question-and-answer session but turned heated as the Gover nment’s named person scheme became the focus. The child protection measure is already being piloted in parts of Scotland including South Ayrshire, Highland, Edinburgh, Fife and Angus.
It is due to be extended to other parts of Scotland in 2016.
One retired teacher accused the government of “sending spies into people’s homes”.
She said: “We should be giving teachers less work and not more. I can’t see how Scotland can get fairer when we have this level of state interference in the family.”
One mother, who asked not to be named, suggested that proposals included that children had the right to decide what TV programmes they watch.
Frances Burnistoun, a r et i r e d t e acher f rom Woodside in Glasgow, said: “Who is going to decide what is acceptable? People are going to feel that this is an intrusion.”
However, another mother said the scheme would have helped her cope with her daughter.