Improving Scottish Education 2 – A Primary School Perspective

The HMIE report Improving Scottish Education (January 2009) provides an important overview of the state of education in Scotland's primary schools. It describes what we can be justly proud of and points up a considerable number of aspects where we need to do better. In particular, the report highlights the critical improvements required to ensure that our children do not fall behind their counterparts in a number of other countries. The TIMSS report (December 2008) should act as a wake-up call in this regard, most notably in science, technology and in aspects of English language/literacy and mathematics/numeracy.

In this discussion, Alistair Marquis will look at the big issues facing our primary schools today in order to deliver consistently high quality learning experiences and strong outcomes for our children.