The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Dugdale’s politics are firmly rooted in Dundee
SOCIALISM: ‘Who I am has shaped what I believe’, leader will say
The new leader of Scottish Labour claims her journey from being an average pupil in Moray to top of the class in Dundee highlights the inequalities in Scottish education.
Making her first major speech as party leader today, Kezia Dugdale, the daughter of two teachers, is expected to say her experience of Scotland’s education system helped to shape her politics.
After attending primary school in Elgin her family moved to Dundee, where she attended Harris Academy in the west end.
And, possibly as a result of Jeremy Corbyn’s seemingly unassailable lead in the race to become UK Labour leader, Ms Dugdale is also expected to use the term “socialism” to describe her political beliefs.
“My socialism wasn’t learned from a book, it comes from lived experience. Who I am has shaped what I believe,” she will say.
“I learned my passion for education from my parents, who are both teachers.
“I remember my mum working to set up a nursery in Dundee; having to compromise on providing the best facility because some of the toddlers needed washed, fed and a sleep before they could sit down to learn.
“I first felt the unfairness of inequality when I moved from primary school in leafy Elgin to secondary school in urban Dundee – expansive sports fields replaced by playground concrete.
“An average pupil in prosperous Elgin, I was suddenly near top of the class in my new secondary in Dundee.”
Ms Dugdale will say the attainment – and expectations – of people from different backgrounds became even more apparent at university.
“When I went to study law at Aberdeen University I found the wheel had turned again and I was surrounded by privately-educated pupils whose backgrounds I couldn’t relate to and whose achievements I couldn’t compete with,” she will say.
“My family wasn’t rich but we weren’t in poverty either and it just seemed wrong that advantage and disadvantage followed young people throughout their education.
“It is experiences like these and countless others that have shaped my political convictions.”