A mentoring system could help in the teaching of minority subjects

WILLIAM Scott (Letters, July 9) writes that you cannot offer Japanese or Scots, or by implication any other extra subject, to school students in Scotland. He should have added “within the present system”. There are, however, pupils who could benefit from the availability of minority subjects with certification if successfully concluded. Young students who want minority subjects are certainly highly motivated, which is a basic requirement for good learning.

As the educational system is for the benefit of the pupils it is very worth thinking about how minority subjects can be made available?

Mr Scott is right. They cannot be taught within the present system. The constraints on timetabling are multiple – fixed number of rooms, of teachers and of specialities along with the great variation in pupils’ needs according to their ability and ambitions.

The whole system is struggling with the Curriculum for Excellence and the idea of further change is anathema.

Certification for CVs and university entrance for minority subjects also presents problems. The Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) is reluctant to establish new subject qualification; in fact SQA is reducing the number of certified subjects, as seen recently with Russian.

Yet waves of change are lapping round the educational edifice, some ongoing and gentle, some like a tsunami. Where there is movement there is hope for change.

The gentle changes are the way boundaries between different levels of school education from pre-school onwards are becoming less clear cut. Colleges and universities are reaching out to school pupils and their families to ease access to tertiary education. There is a degree of flexibility in the system.

The tsunami is the power of the internet and modern communications that are already affecting learning and will continue to do so with ever more drastic effect.

What does a motivated learner of Japanese need outwith the school system? The learner has to find a good Japanese language programme on the internet and for this good advice is essential. For support and guidance a local mentor is needed. And it would be highly desirable to make electronic contact with native Japanese speakers.

Certification is more difficult. Two possible approaches are European or local. If 100 Scottish students want to learn Japanese, and 1,000 in England, and 10,000 in Europe, then surely, given the will, a European-wide certificate could be devised. It would take time but it is possible.

There is also a local solution which, again given goodwill and cooperation between schools and universities or colleges, could be worked out relatively quickly.

Both school and university or college would benefit –the school by solving a problem and the tertiary institute by gaining access to motivated students. The co-operating university could supply the mentor and be responsible for assessment at the end of the course. A pass would be valid as part of the entrance requirements.

These suggestions may well be impractical. If so experts in the field can no doubt find better solutions. Hugh Boyd, 65 Antonine Road, Bearsden.