Sir, – The report (The Courier, December 13) that the percentage of pupils in Fife attaining expected levels in every key skill (reading, writing, numeracy and listening) was below the national Scottish average at every point assessed between P1 and S3 evoked an extremely poor response from Fife Council.
The convener of Fife’s education committee, Fay Sinclair, was silent, leaving the head of education, Peter McNaughton, to blame the poor results on a methodological blip since the method of assessment in Fife has changed in recent years.
This might explain why in the past Fife produced better statistics, but it does not explain why Fife’s current statistics are so poor compared to other local authorities, when they were all measured in the same way.
Of course the reasons why pupil attainment in Fife is below the Scottish average are multiple and complex, but the other education report in The Courier gives one clue.
Fife has more pupils to teachers than Angus, Dundee and Perth and Kinross, and again does not beat or even match the Scottish average.
Attainment in Fife’s schools will not improve with evasion, denial and complacency on the part of those responsible.
They are no substitute for political leadership, both from Fife Council and the Scottish Government.
Linda Holt.
Councillor – East Neuk and Landward,
Dreel House,
Pittenweem.
Moving on to the very nasty party
Sir, – A few years ago Theresa May famously said the Tories were in danger of being seen as the “nasty party”.
It is obvious that on their record in government they have now moved on and exceeded her prediction.
From the Government’s own figures it is estimated there are now four million children in poverty in Britain.
According to the Rowntree Foundation 67% of these children are from families where one adult is working.
There has been a huge increase in inequality. The Social Mobility Commission resigned in despair at the lack of Government action.
It is stated that wages are lower than they were 20 years ago, and they are projected not to rise for the foreseeable future.
This against a background of a crisis in social care (e.g. home care company Four Seasons going into liquidation and owned by a US equity company), train fares rising above inflation to feed largely foreign-owned company profits, domestic fuel prices continuing to rise (again to feed private profits) and a crisis in NHS funding.
This Government is presiding over an increasingly unequal society, caused by an actual reduction in living standards for wage earners and the erosion, by financial cuts, of our public services.
At the same time they have done nothing about the abuse of off-shore funds used by the rich to avoid tax, whilst simultaneously giving tax reductions for the big companies.
Indeed the Tory Party has moved on. It is now the very nasty party.
Brian Batson.
7 Lour Road,
Forfar.
SNP in denial on education
Sir, – The SNP’s statements on the state of Scottish education are becoming ever more disingenuous.
After a decade of SNP control, during which they have knowingly squeezed local council budgets, forcing them to cut services including resources available to our schools, the SNP once again seek plaudits for a relatively modest increase, this time in the number of teachers, hoping people have forgotten the massive cuts that these follow on from.
Education Secretary John Swinney surely forgets that most of us were educated before he and his party got their hands on education.
We therefore know that the latest year’s increase of 543 teachers provides little comfort against the net 3,570 teachers that we are still short of, compared with when the SNP came to power in 2007.
It is just the same with the £120 million attainment fund he and the First Minister refer to time and again, as if we will be fooled into thinking this is more significant than the many hundreds of millions of pounds that have been squeezed out of education budgets over the last decade.
The SNP promised class sizes would come down and they have not.
Teachers continue to do their best despite inadequate resources and having to work with the dysfunctional Curriculum for Excellence that seems to deliver anything but what its name implies.
Sadly, when it comes to education, denial appears to be the SNP’s default setting.
Keith Howell.
White Moss,
West Linton.
Plymouth trip a waste of money
Sir, – I feel obliged to record my disapproval of the waste of public money incurred by the Angus Provost Mr Proctor and a council officer. This can only be described as a junket.
This trip to “welcome back HMS Montrose” in Plymouth can only be described simplistically as frivilous and more seriously as a waste of public funds.
It has become rather wearing to find that everything military which happens in Angus finds the approval and involvement of our provost.
On this occasion it was the Navy not the Army!
The response to such criticism was “petty , political rubbish”.
This remains the standard arrogant political response we have come to expect from the Tories in Angus recently.
Perhaps Mr Proctor should say that to those in Angus who have to rely on foodbanks. I am sure the refreshments in Plymouth were most enjoyable.
By the way was first class travel used?
My final question is, was the provost invited to attend this ceremony and if yes why was it not funded by the Ministry of Defence?
Would a communication of congratulations not have sufficed?
By the way, as The Courier indicates on page 9 (December 12) all four previous visits and ceremonies happened in the town of Montrose.
Why was this precedence not adopted this time? The ship will port in Montrose in September 2018.
Dan Wood.
1 Charles Melvin Gardens,
Kirriemuir.
A chair by any other name?
Sir, – Lately I have been at a loss as to why people say they are a “chair”. In my copy of the Oxford English Dictionary the definition of chair is “an item to sit on.” I will admit my dictionary is nearly as old as I am, and obviously things have moved on –particularly, it would seem, in gender correctness.
If women or men felt it was not appropriate to be recognised as such, why did they not use a perfectly reasonable substitute word, such as “leader”?
If the present trend continues, will we eventually have high chairs and side chairs forming committees?
A A Bullions.
6 Glencairn Crescent,
Leven,
Fife.
V&A office block a shameful plan
Sir, – When Sir Mark Jones, then director of the V&A London, came to Dundee in the early planning phase of the V&A Dundee, he talked about the regenerating effect of the Guggenheim Museum had on Bilbao, and the importance of the total commitment of the Bilbao authorities to high quality design across the city in achieving that.
It was implicit this would be required if the project were to proceed in Dundee, and it is shameful Dundee City Council has ignored this key principle, by pushing ahead with its unimaginative speculative build in close proximity to Kengo Kuma’s iconic building.
And this in the UNESCO City of Design!
Prof Richard Olver,
13 Queen’s Gardens,
St Andrews.
