Do you think I might have been waiting until nearer the end of this project before I stirred it up a bit by getting involved in politics? I may have, although not consciously. Yesterday was a day of revisiting for me of old debates and concerns about our education system in the UK. After I posted I waited for the backlash but it never came. Instead came a flood of emails pretty much in agreement with the views I expressed.
Today I have had a very busy day continuing my quest to be ready for the island's largest Christmas market but I have also been taking time out to begin the review of the Scottish independent white paper. Scottish island mum has officially been asked for her view which is, of course, slightly bonkers. But we do bonkers well so I should not be totally surprised. I have run this review alongside a programme aired last night on BBC 2 called 'Our friends in the north.' I had touched on Scandinavian countries in my post yesterday when I held their education system up as far superior to ours. There is no doubt that is the case as the results couldn't be clearer. If you are interested in how this is achieved you should watch this programme. The Finnish schools, in particular score very high as world leaders. The Finish children are the best educated children in the world. They do not start school until they are 7 years old and they only sit formal exams at 16. They have none of the pressures of UK children. They also only operate mixed ability classes believing that all abilities benefit from being taught together. We, on the other hand, force our children into overcrowded classes at 4 years old before testing them far too often throughout their schooling and like nothing better than to segregate children by ability sealing a sense of difference.
But these are not just principles held in education. Valuing everyone equally is something that spreads into wider society. The Scandinavian countries have all had their fair share of challenging times but recent history sees them surviving a global economic crises far better than most. That is mainly because they have learnt from their past mistakes but it is also because they know how to invest. They invest in their children, they invest in their working mothers, they invest in their family units and they invest in their economy. To achieve this they tax higher than we do but they use that revenue to invest in public services that everyone can enjoy. People understand where their taxes are going. I am quite sure it is not utopia but it is a lot closer than we have managed.
A social historian makes an interesting point in the programme when her refers to the word orientation which means looking to the east. In the UK we don't look to the east or the north for models to adopt we look west to the US. The US is a completely different scenario than the UK. Scotland has more in common with Finland with its 5 million people and relatively large landmass. As I have begun my review of the white paper I am sorry to report that the points made, more often than not, lead to questions from me as the reader. It should be providing answers not raising more questions.
I am not ready to give a view on the paper as I have much more reading and digesting to do first. What I would say though is it is obsessed with considering independence from the point of view of splitting with the rest of the UK. Independence is much more than that and it should be aspirational as well as pragmatic. In that context we should be measuring the debate by using other models with similar size populations as models to interrogate. I can't help think we have missed an opportunity with just how the debate is framed let alone the content of that debate. Why do we insist in viewing the world from a UK centric position when there is a whole world out there beyond our shores. Maybe we are holding onto to the days of the British empire when we marched around the world declaring that we knew best.
I am the ever optimist that is looking for solutions not moaning about problems so my review of the white paper will start from that premise. I will also not be making my mind up on whether or not Scotland should become independent until I have interrogated the white paper and the debates that follow. I had a wonderful email from a lovely lady who spent some time living in Finland. She reads my blog almost every day and her advice is that Scottish island mum should write the much needed educational revolution manifesto and see what that stirs up. Scottish island mum is not that bold but she is open to talking to other parents, teachers and young people who want to call time on our education system. I fear it might mean ripping it all up and starting again but I am game if you are....
Until tomorrow. xx
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