Gaelic
10. How significant a change in Gaelic medium
primary education will the Bill deliver? Do you agree these provisions should
be limited to primary schooling?
11. What are the most appropriate ways for education
authorities, particularly those with low levels of Gaelic usage, to promote and
support Gaelic medium education and Gaelic learner education? What impact is
this promotional work likely to have on the Gaelic language and the number of
Gaelic speakers?
12. Do you agree that the Bill “will establish a
clear process for authorities to follow in considering parental requests for an
assessment of the need for Gaelic medium primary education”? Do you agree with
the thresholds proposed in the Bill in relation to the assessment of parental
requests?
13. Under existing legislation, education
authorities must have regard to Bord na Gaidhlig’s education guidance when they
are producing their annual statement of improvement objectives. What will the
requirement in this bill add to this?
14. Overall, to what extent will the Bill help to
deliver the Scottish Government’s commitments to grow and strengthen Gaelic
education?
15. What potential impact on other educational services might arise from the local authority having to implement these new duties?
Additional
Support for Learning
16. What will be the outcomes of extending rights
under the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004 to
children aged 12 and over with capacity? Please give practical examples.
17. Do you agree with the proposal that not all of
the rights in the ASL legislation should be extended to children (see
paragraphs 49 and 50 of the policy memorandum)?
18. What are your views on the statutory children's support service proposed by the Scottish Government?
Chief
Education Officer
19. What would be the possible advantages and
disadvantages of legislating for the role of Chief Education Officer (CEO) in every
education authority in Scotland? Are there any previous examples of the
Scottish Government seeking to instruct local authorities to employ a person in
a particular role? If so, are there any lessons to be learned from how this
worked?
20. What roles could a CEO most usefully perform
and to what extent are such roles already carried out within education
authorities?
Registering
teaching staff
21. How would grant-aided schools, independent
schools and their pupils benefit from their teaching staff being registered
with the General Teaching Council for Scotland? What different or new skills
would such teaching staff acquire as a result of registration? Is it likely
that attainment would improve in the schools in question?
The Bill’s Financial Memorandum states—
“There may also be financial consequences for
the smaller special schools within the independent sector who may find it a challenge
to attract GTCS registered teachers and this may affect the school’s ability to
continue to operate. The risk should be mitigated by the proposed transitional
arrangements which will allow schools sufficient time to plan for full
implementation. Discussions are yet to be had with the GTCS and the sector but
there is an expectation that all teachers will be GTCS registered within 2
years of introduction at the latest.”
22. What transitional arrangements would be appropriate, particularly to avoid the risk of smaller special schools being unable to operate?
Complaints
23. The Bill will introduce a power to make regulations about the procedure to be followed in relation to complaints to Scottish Ministers. Paragraph 74 of the Policy Memorandum sets out some proposed deadlines. What is your view on the deadlines for these procedures?
24. The policy intention is that Scottish Ministers should not consider an issue or reconsider a decision which should be dealt with by the Additional Support Needs Tribunals for Scotland (ASNTS). Do you agree with this proposal and will it always be clear cut when a complaint is solely for (ASNTS)?
25. Overall, how will the Scottish Government's proposals affect parents' ability to complain about the actions of an education authority or relevant body? Will the new system be more effective? Is it clear which matters can and cannot be the grounds of a complaint to Scottish Ministers?
Learning
and childcare
The Scottish Government is seeking to amend section 47(3) of the
Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 as it currently unintentionally
excludes a small group of children from the early learning and childcare
provisions.
26. Are there any reasons to distinguish between guardians and kinship carers for the purposes of entitlement to free early learning and childcare?
Other
issues
Please provide any other information you think
would be relevant to the Committee’s scrutiny. For example, it is helpful to
have your views on whether—
- the Bill, or parts of it, will deliver the Scottish Government’s policy objectives;
- legislation is needed to deliver some or all of the Scottish Government’s policy intentions;
- the consultation undertaken on the Bill was adequate.
How
to submit your evidence
The final closing date for submitting responses is Monday
18 May 2015.
Before making a submission, please read the Parliament’s
policy on treatment of written evidence by subject and mandatory committees
Where possible, written submissions should be—
- submitted electronically in word format to: [email protected]
- limited to around 4 sides of A4
- in Arial 12 font
- set out in numbered paragraphs
Where your submission refers to existing published material, it is
preferable to provide hyperlinks or full citations (rather than extensive
extracts). The Committee welcomes written evidence in English, Gaelic or any
other language.
Alternatively, you may use the following
address—
Clerk to the Education and Culture Committee
Room T3.40
The Scottish Parliament
Edinburgh
EH99 1SP
What
happens next?
After the Committee has gathered responses to
its questions about the Bill, it will invite people and organisations to attend
meetings at the Scottish Parliament to answer questions about the Bill (in
other words, to provide ‘oral evidence’).
The Committee will decide who to invite in due course.
These meetings are likely to be held on
Tuesday mornings in June 2015, and it would be helpful if you could indicate as
soon as possible whether you would like to take part in these meetings.
However, there is no guarantee that your request will be agreed to by the
Committee.
Any
questions?
If you have any questions about the Bill or
how you can give your views on it, you can contact the Education and Culture
Committee clerks by emailing [email protected] or by calling 0131 348 5222.