Scottish studies in the curriculum
A scheme to help fund school trips to a number of key Scottish historical sites has been extended for a further year by Learning Minister Alasdair Allan.
The move came as part of a parliamentary debate on Scottish Studies within Curriculum for Excellence, a commitment which already has the support of the Scottish public and a number of cultural personalities and leading academics.
Dr Allan said:
“Today’s debate has given me the chance to talk in parliament about the Scottish Government’s commitment to strengthen the presence of Scottish history, literature, language and culture in the curriculum.
“Recent research shows that 90 per cent of the Scottish public are on board with the plan, and we’ve already had a productive meeting of the working group set up to look at the issue, which included the Makar Liz Lochhead and a number of leading academics.
“An important part of ensuring that our young people gain the knowledge and understanding of Scottish history, heritage and culture involves getting our pupils out and about to key sites. During the last academic year, over 20,000 young people throughout Scotland benefited from the Heritage Education Travel Subsidy scheme.
“The scheme includes the new Robert Burns’ Birthplace Museum, New Lanark World Heritage Site, Bannockburn and Edinburgh and Stirling Castles and I am very pleased to announce that we will continue to support the £150,000 scheme for 2012/2013.”
Jacquelyn Condie, a teacher at Tayvallich Primary School in Argyll, added:
“As a teacher in a small rural school on the West Coast of Scotland, I feel that we greatly benefited from the travel subsidy scheme, as it enabled us to visit sites which are so important to our children’s knowledge and understanding of Scottish history.
“We had a wonderful visit to the Bannockburn Heritage Centre and Stirling Castle, which was made extra special by their staff and the fantastic educational resources, which really brought history to life. My class thoroughly enjoyed the experience and have returned enthused about their project.”
Related information
How to apply – Heritage Education Travel Subsidy (Historic Scotland website)
5 comments
Hi,
I think it is really great that funding travel to historical Scottish sites is being extended but having a child in secondary education at St. John’s High in Dundee and living in the west end where National Express removed the designated school bus 4S getting my child to school and back home is my priority! An alternative of a 40min bus trip around the west end when my son did this option he had travel sickness and had to be collected from school missing a school day! The other alternative is a 2 bus journey going into Dundee center then catching another bus this is not without its difficulties! I presently take my son back & forward to school adding to road traffic and pollution on a busy road network at peak times! Some children are walking but we live 2.1 miles from St.John’s also a heavy backpack with text books & gym kit it is well research can cause back problems in children! Also after the October holiday we will be heading towards winter weather after last year pavements & roads could be dangerous! As to cycling there are no cycle paths & Dundee is built on a hill & car drivers can be less than mannerly! So my point being until the bus company & Dundee City Council deal with this problem my son visiting historical sites is the least of my worries!
I simply don’t believe Minister Dr Alasdair Allan’s claim that as a pupil attending Ashkirk Primary and Selkirk High School he had received little in the way of teaching about his home country or local area “and managed to grow up in the same place as Walter Scott and James Hogg and heard neither of their names mentioned. ” Did The Minister not notice the muckle great statue of Sir Walter Scott in the Selkirk Market Square as headed up the A7 to Edinburgh? Did he never sing ‘The Soft Lowland Tongue ‘o The Border’ with the rest of the town during The Common Riding with that line about ‘Leyden and Scott’ and ‘Hogg by the lonely St Mary?’ Did he never do the Border Ballads like the rest of us who were educated in Selkirkshire or was he pugging school that day? Come off it Dr Allan! You’ve got a good case but don’t overegg it!
Great that Ministers are backing Historic Scotland’s work bringing Scotland’s heritage to life in the classroom. But why do we still have no place at the top table in Unesco now that culture and education are fully devolved? Why do Ministers put up with a private company registered in England styling itself as a “UK National Commission for Unesco” picking and choosing what bits of Scotland’s culture being nominated for Unesco World Heritage and Memory of The World listings? Why did civil servants stand by and watch this privatised bunch of ‘Stalinist Quislings’ most of whom know nothing about Scotland and Wales purge the Scottish and Welsh Unesco Advisory Committees in May 2009 in a secret meeting in a lawyer’s offices in London when the Welsh were told they could not continue with a ‘Catalan-style’ of representation in Unesco similar to that which also applies in Canada with Quebec? And why was UKNC for Unesco claiming this week that Scottish Ministers would be at their ‘Human Rights in Education’ event in Glasgow when no Scottish Ministers are in fact attending? I think we need some explanations – and for ‘UKNC’ to be axed. It has already been refused charitable status here in Scotland and was also deemed ‘too political’ for such status in England.
What plans too are Scottish Ministers making to celebrate next year’s 100th Anniversary of the Dundee-born philosopher George Elder Davie whose concept of ‘The Democratic Intellect’ was put right at the heart of Unesco’s international educational agenda by Unesco Director-General Irina Bukova when she addressed her fellow graduands this Summer in Edinburgh University on being awarded an Honorary Doctorate? And how many civil servants have ever opened George Elder Davie’s books? (Candidates may use fingers of one hand or an electronic calculator in answering as appropriate). Can SHEFC quote it by heart? If not, why not?
Once again Dr Allan is clinging to some dodgy statistics when he claims that “recent research shows that 90 per cent of the Scottish public are on board with the plan”- surely he should approach statistics with greater care than he has?
As for the claim that not enough Scottish culture features in Scottish schools it’s another lovely example of a political ‘Aunt Sally’ -looks scary, easy to appear to be doing something about it, and in reality it does not really exist. If we had much more Scottish culture in my school it would be a parody in an English comedy sketch!
There’s nothing wrong with celebrating our culture and heritage, just don’t start wrapping us in a flag and getting obsessive about it- a number of European nations have met a sticky end doing just that over the last century or so(and so did their politicians)!