LAST month you publishd an editorial on the proposed restructuring of middle and senior management posts in the five secondary schools in West Dunbartonshire authority (“School cuts could damage the life chances of pupils”, The Herald, June 29). First, want to sympathise with the authority in having to apply these cuts which were not of their making. Secondly, the executive director of educational services , in his response, rightly pointed out that creating faculties has been done in other schools in other authorities and by adopting this policy, compulsory redundancies would be avoided.
However, I'm sure that the executive director would also recognise that facultisation inevitably narrows the promotion prospects of teachers who come into the profession because there are simply fewer management posts available.
In West Dunbartonshire there is a further narrowing of career prospects because two of the five secondaries are denominational. This means, in my understanding, that every teacher who applies for a job in these two schools must seek the approval of the Catholic Church, and that senior management posts, religious education posts and possibly other guidance-related posts are restricted to Catholic applicants in order to maintain the over-riding aim of ''forming young people in Christ" and presenting a particular view of Christianity as "objective truth"..
Catholics remain free to apply for, and obtain any post in all of the five secondaries.
I have a different vision of the Scottish education system. The main aspects are as follows:
Every tax-payer funded state school in Scotland is free from discrimination on the basis of religious affiliation, financial status or academic ability. All state schools are administered by local authorities and all staff attain posts on the basis of their qualifications, experience and interview performance, regardless of religious affiliation. Ethos is governed solely by the fine aims of the Curriculum for Excellence, that we strive to assist our young people in becoming successful learners, responsible citizens, effective contributors and confident individuals.
Any selection on the basis of creed, gender, academic ability or financial status is restricted to the independent sector, with charitable status withdrawn so that tax-payers money can be spent instead on addressing the kind of issues arising from the levels of deprivation experienced by many pupils, particularly in authorities such as West Dunbartonshire.
I would appreciate it if the Scottish Government, whom I support, West Dunbartonshire Authority, of which I am an employee, and the teaching trade unions, of which I am a member, would let me know if they share my vision. Alternatively, in all humility, I would appreciate it if they could help me understand why they think my vision is wrong?
B Stansfield,
8 Haggs Gate, Glasgow.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel