RESTORING OUR EDUCATION SYSTEM IN SCOTLAND AWAY FROM INDOCTRINATION TO PURIST EDUCATION THAT ENSURES OUR GREAT HERITAGE LIVES ON - FREEDOM – NATION – FAMILY

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E M Lindsay Griffiths MA Hons (University of St Andrews);
former Classics Teacher at The High School of Dundee, Gordonstoun and Head of Classics at The Queens School, Chester reports:

 

Scottish education requires a radical return to the old paths, teaching family values alongside the Constitution of Great Britain of which Scotland has an equal part.

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The Nuffield Foundation reports that Scottish pupils perform better at a younger age than the other UK countries, but after that this quickly recedes, with performance levels less than England particularly in the area of Maths. It is the view of the Scottish Heritage Party that the nation can resolve these issues by bringing into Scotland the finest teachers from other parts of the UK, Scotland offering a far higher standard of living, and training our own teachers in the traditional way outside of the "woke" path of modern-day universities.

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The current Scottish Government path of introducing an LGBTQ+ curriculum will be replaced with foundational courses in Religious Education, particularly as it was the Kirk who founded our schools, and if we neglect this heritage how can education stand? Understanding of other faiths will be given too to encourage dialogue and understanding, tackling too the sectarianism of the west in particular teaching to understand each other without pressure to compromise one's faith.

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With the foundations being removed, Scottish education is rapidly declining, and this is being acknowledged even by the SNP. In 2015 this was accepted by the then Scottish Secretary John Swinney who offered radical reforms, reforms that have made matters worse. The Spectator reports: In 2019-2020, the proportion of pupils passing three or more Highers was 43 per cent, lower than any year from 2015 onwards.

 

Audit Scotland, an independent watchdog, concludes that the attainment gap between rich and poor ‘remains wide’ and that progress ‘falls short of the Scottish government’s aims’. Scottish children from poor backgrounds remain significantly less likely than their English counterparts to go to university.

 

Current Situation: By the SNP Government’s own admission, the impact of Covid-19 on education (2020-22), has led to a decline in literacy and numeracy levels and an increase in the poverty-related educational attainment gap which is now 15%.

 

Furthermore, there are 4 Current Issues presented to the Scottish Government by educational directors, council chiefs, school leaders and parents:

• Staff absence

• Uncertainty over exams

• Already vulnerable pupils have become more vulnerable

• Persistent non-attendance

 

In addition to the above, we also have an increased gap in achievement between state and independent schools. There is also growing concern over Scottish Government policy regarding non-examination syllabi in schools, especially Relationships and Sex Education and negative attitudes to the expression of socially conservative and faith beliefs in schools – in short, freedom of speech.

 

Our Response:

We would concur that the response of both Scottish and UK Governments to the pandemic has greatly exacerbated these issues, especially through the lockdowns and closure of schools, resulting in greater attainment gaps, massive suffering to children, young people and families nationwide (including higher levels of child and domestic abuse), impaired development of babies and young children, and greater numbers of ‘forgotten children’ who have never returned to school. It is time to face and admit to the reality of this, and to put our children first as the future of our nation!

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Our Policy:

We will ensure that pupils and students are once again taught ‘how to think rather than what to think.’

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Curriculum:

This will involve a wider range of school subjects for 12–18-year-olds, e.g., traditional history for all, the return of classical education, a better choice of languages to study, and high quality religious and citizenship classes. This will include the history of Christianity from a Scottish perspective: the Celtic saints, the Reformation, Covenanters and Scottish missionaries, also the British Constitution.

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In other words, the Scottish Heritage Party is to restore the true heritage of Scotland so that children and young people from 3-18, rescued from the ‘woke’ agenda, may re-discover their true identity. This must, and will, include spiritual development as a priority.

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‘Children to be Children’:

‘Children to be children’: All subjects must be age-appropriate with full parental consultation and involvement regarding curriculum development and subject options.

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Role of Parents:

Parental Responsibility: We recognise that parents have primary responsibility of the nurturing and upbringing of their children, with school staff being ‘in loco parentis.’ Therefore, full information on every educational establishment must be available on-line and via hard copies to parents and others who have a genuine interest in young people’s welfare, to include:

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• School handbook

• School website

• Most recent inspection reports

• Including policy and rules on discipline and rewards.

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All these should be written in clear and concise language – not ‘woke’ catchphrases as at present!

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Parental choice must also be respected regarding education, whether it be to choose an independent school or where appropriate to educate their children at home.

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Additional Needs and Attendance Issues:

We will make every effort, in co-operation with appropriate agencies and charities, to identify such needs at an early stage, and to nurture such children in an atmosphere of love, acceptance and security with extra staffing and accommodation provided as required. This will replace the environment of fear, insecurity and social isolation endured since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.

 

Declared David Kurten: Children should be taught British history in schools, both good and bad, but with a sense that on balance, we are a nation with a history and heritage to be proud of.

 

The restoration of our education system is vital for the future success of our nation. This will involve the return to family values and a removal of LGBTQ ideology that has been sexualising and polluting the minds of our children for far too long.

 

Continues David Kurten: While we uphold the right of individuals to make choices about how they conduct their personal lives, we believe that the institutions of marriage and the natural family are fundamental to the fabric of a good society and the transmission of values, customs, traditions and identity from parents to children through the generations.

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The traditional nuclear family where a mother and father bring up their own children is the best and most successful model for bringing up healthy and well-balanced children, and building stable communities.

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While there are many excellent single parents, carers and guardians who do their very best for the children in their care, the bell curve of success for children who are brought up by their own married mother and father is better than for any other model of family. Such children have better educational attainment, economic success and health, and lower rates of crime, suicide, depression, drug abuse or self-harm.

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Children should not deliberately be denied a mother and a father. We will encourage and support the traditional family structure through the tax system and education, and we oppose the engineering of society in such a way that causes increasing numbers of children to be deliberately brought up without their own mother and father.

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In particular, boys need fathers. Boys who have been abandoned by their fathers, or deprived of contact with them by an often discriminatory legal system, are far more likely to turn to gangs and crime than boys who are raised with a male role model. Refuting divisive notions of ‘toxic masculinity’, we will promote father figures and the nurturing of each boy to become a good man.

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We will not allow schools to propagate anti-family propaganda which undermines the picture of the traditional nuclear family as the best model of family. We will also block teaching materials and lessons which encourage early sexual activity in children before they reach the age of consent, or inappropriate materials detailing non-reproductive sexual acts.

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School children should not be exposed to unscientific nonsense like queer theory or gender fluidity. It is a scientific fact that there are two sexes: male and female, which are determined by anatomy and chromosomes. Previously on the fringe of radical thought, gender ideology has been mainstreamed to the detriment of children’s well-being. Transgender propaganda which confuses children about their biological sex and damages their natural development as boys or girls should not be allowed in schools.

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To protect children, we will introduce Hungarian-style legislation to prohibit the promotion of LGBTQQIAAPPP*+ ideologies and practices to minors under 18-years-old.

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Our children need therefore to be educated into being free thinking people understanding our roots, our heritage and fully understanding our history rather than as it is at present being brainwashed into cultural Marxist thinking with a peculiar emphasis on minority sexual lifestyles.

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Continues David Kurten: The UK must become self-sufficient in skills rather than relying on importing skilled and unskilled labour from abroad. Education needs to be re-focussed onto fostering excellence and teaching pupils and students the skills they need to be self-reliant. We must train enough of our own young people to succeed and thrive in professional and technical careers, particularly as nurses, doctors, teachers, engineers, construction workers and IT professionals.

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The re-implementation of a tripartite system at secondary school level is a top priority with grammar schools for the academically talented, technical schools to train young people with an aptitude for practical and vocational skills, and general schools to ensure that all children of all levels have the personal skills, entrepreneurial skills and employability to succeed in the world of work if they leave formal education at 16.
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Universities need to become lean and mean again and focus on delivering high quality academic courses. Universities are not for everyone, particularly those who are talented in practical fields who would benefit more from following a non-academic route and would be better off getting a job at 16 or 18 and learning a trade. There should be parity of esteem between academic, technical and vocational training.

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Universities should be for the 20% or so of people who will benefit from rigorous, high-level academic courses. We would pay off the student loans of British students who have graduated in STEMM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths, Medicine) subjects so long as they work in their field of study in the UK.

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Poor quality courses and Universities which do more harm than good and are of little use to employers should be defunded, and failing universities should not be saved from going out of business. Too many academic institutions seem to believe that their role is to force-feed left-wing ideology and divisive identity politics, while stifling debate. Such institutions should not receive government subsidies or grants to continue their corrosive activities.

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For those who are more gifted in practical and vocational fields, we will invest in apprenticeships and bring back the Polytechnics which should never have been closed or converted, so that young people can learn high-level technical skills to succeed in practical trades. Our aim is to return to an era characterised by high-levels of employment, wide ranging skills sets and British manufacturing, where we as a nation are self-sufficient in skills, British youngsters are trained to do skilled jobs so that they can all earn a good living, and there is no longer a need to depend on an unsustainable flow of cheap labour from abroad.

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Retired teacher Charles McEwan declares: We will not allow schools to propagate anti-family propaganda which undermines the picture of the traditional nuclear family as the best model of family. We will also block teaching materials and lessons which teach unscientific nonsense like queer theory or gender fluidity. It is a scientific fact that there are two sexes: male and female, which are determined by anatomy and chromosomes. We will also block teaching materials and lessons which encourage early sexual activity in children before they reach the age of consent. We will promote the primary aspect of the sexual act as life-giving and encourage proper respect between men and woman rather than as sexual objects to be used primarily for pleasure. Transgender propaganda confuses children about their biological sex and damages their natural development as boys or girls and so should not be allowed in schools. We will therefore oppose these disastrous ideas being promoted in schools and will work to ensure that there is a free exchange of ideas in the public square about these damaging Woke ideas. To protect children, we will introduce Hungarian-style legislation to prohibit the promotion of LGBTQ+ ideologies and practices to minors under 18-years-old.

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Universities must re-establish themselves as places where free debate is enshrined. People should be able to disagree and discuss the merits of opposing viewpoints. To ban topics from public debate is an act of intolerance and encourages hate towards people with whom you do not agree.

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The UK must become self-sufficient in skills rather than relying on importing skilled and unskilled labour from abroad. Education for work should foster excellence and teach pupils the skills they need to be self-reliant. We must train enough of our own young people to succeed and thrive in professional and technical careers, particularly as nurses, doctors, teachers, engineers, construction workers and IT professionals.

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WE support grammar schools for the academically talented and technical schools to train young people with an aptitude for practical and vocational skills. We will invest in apprenticeships and bring back the Polytechnics so that young people can learn high-level technical skills to succeed in practical trades.

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Our aim is to return to an era of high levels of employment, wide ranging skills sets and British manufacturing, where we as a nation are self-sufficient in skills.