Education
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Full-time schooling in a pandemic – looking back at Term 1
14th October 2020 by John Swinney MSP
No one could doubt the challenges that lay ahead when schools opened in August. We were asked – and we asked ourselves – how could pupils possibly safely return to full-time learning in the middle of a global pandemic? Well, they could and they did. Now, with most of Scotland’s children and young people on...
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Message to EU national teachers
12th October 2020 by John Swinney MSP
I want to thank EU national teachers for their significant contribution in combating Covid-19. The emergence of the virus is one of the biggest challenges that the world has faced for generations. The decision to close schools was one of the most difficult decisions we needed to make during this crisis. I do not underestimate...
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Celebrating International Teachers’ Day
5th October 2020 by John Swinney MSP
During the Covid-19 pandemic, I have hugely valued the contribution of key workers in their roles keeping essential services operating. Teachers have played a significant part in this – when school buildings closed in March, they continued to deliver learning to pupils across Scotland in new and innovative ways. And when they re-opened in August,...
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Black History in Scotland’s Curriculum
14th July 2020 by John Swinney MSP
Deputy First Minister John Swinney The Scottish Government stands in solidarity with the world-wide anti-racism movement. Education has a key role to play in building a society which actively challenges racism, eliminates racial discrimination and advances equality. I have received many items of correspondence asking that more is done to ensure social inequality, racism and...
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Rising to the challenge of educational equity: How is Scotland doing?
25th February 2020 by Education News Team
Guest Blog from Professor Chris Chapman, Senior Academic Advisor, Scottish Attainment Challenge Director, Policy Scotland, University of Glasgow Breaking the steadfast link between poverty and educational attainment is a wicked issue that has arguably become the singularly most important issue for education systems around the world. In February 2015 The Times Educational Supplement Scotland reported...
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Down on the farm – guest blog from Royal Highland Education Trust
24th December 2019 by jackmatthews
Guest blog from Sara Smith, Learning and Development Co-ordinator at the Royal Highland Education Trust Throughout the year, come rain or shine, farmers open their gates to provide young people with the opportunity to find out about food production. The charity The Royal Highland Education Trust (RHET) works with farmers and growers across Scotland to...
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Developing the Young Workforce wins silver Future Policy Award
16th October 2019 by jackmatthews
Developing the Young Workforce has been recognised with an international policy award. On Friday 11 October 2019, the World Future Council revealed that Developing the Young Workforce (DYW) was among the policies selected to receive a silver award in what it dubs ‘the Oscar for best policies’ for empowering youth at a ceremony in Geneva...
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Listening and acting to tackle the climate crisis together – Climate Week 2019
9th October 2019 by John Swinney MSP
Climate Week 2019 brings into focus the defining challenge of our times – tackling the global climate emergency – with conversations taking place across Scotland on the role we all have to play. Listening is vital to productive conversation, and as a government we have been listening to the growing number of voices from the...
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Two top physics students presented with Higgs Prize
4th October 2019 by jackmatthews
Agnijo Banerjee and Jane Ambler were awarded the 2018 Higgs Prize for achieving the top scores in the 2018 Advanced Higher physics exam. The prize is named after Edinburgh-based Nobel prize winner Professor Peter Higgs CH, whose work has advanced our understanding of how the particles that make up the world around us are held...
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Results Day – finding support and celebrating success
5th August 2019 by Education News Team
Over the past few weeks, we have been celebrating the broad successes of young people in the Senior Phase, from S4-S6, on social media. The range of awards, qualifications and progression routes at all Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) levels available from S4-S6 is vast, coupled with the opportunity to experience learning opportunities through...