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A bright outlook
Mike Russell speaks exclusively to Teaching Scotland about his vision for the future of the profession, and about the lessons he and colleagues have learned from past experiences.
Education does not have its challenges to seek just now. What's your vision and outlook for the teaching profession, and what do you feel are your main priorities as Minister?
Mike Russell (MR): A lot of great work has taken place recently, including the McCormac and Donaldson reviews. We want to use this work to further strengthen the strong foundations of a successful, satisfied, ambitious teaching profession for the next decade. That is something we can do.
These are tough times, in terms of salaries and what we have had to do. Nobody likes it, I'm on record as saying following the recent settlement that it was the best that could be done in the circumstances, but it was not ideal. But I think the professionalism of teachers will carry us through, because they are very committed to what they do. I think they recognise that CfE is a good way to go, because it's a methodology, it's about a way of doing things while building pedagogical skills and I think that's what teachers are interested in.
So, within that context, I want an education system that is good and getting better, that is confident but knows there is always more that can be done. The best quality education systems in the world have high-quality teaching, accompanied by a consensus about education policy. We've got both of those in Scotland, we know what we want to achieve through CfE and we have high-quality teachers - so I think we just need to build on those strengths.
Bill Maxwell, Transitional Chief Executive of Education in Scotland, told the Directors of Education some weeks ago that the problem in Scotland is not lack of achievement, the problem is essentially a coasting by some schools that are good but could be better. And I think that's tied up with issues of attainment and ambition.
So the key notes for the next five years for me are attainment and ambition, and that means a real focus on improving the life chances of every young person in Scotland. That's what I and my colleagues have to do, but we have to do it with teachers, because no improvement in education can happen unless teachers are fully on board.
What lessons have you learned during your time as Minister for Education? Will these encourage you to do things differently?
MR: I learn every day in this job - it's one of the great things about it. The main lesson I've learned is that negotiation with the teaching profession needs to be detailed and painstaking; we need to listen, not make assumptions and work every day with teachers to take education forward. Education is about more than me and the teachers, it's about a whole range of stakeholders - most importantly the pupils and families - and we need to think as a community to move forward and share an ambition. It's that community spirit that is important to me.
Scotland was the first country in the world to establish compulsory schooling with the parish schools in the sixteenth century. We have a hugely strong tradition and that tradition is based upon local accountability and therefore we need to make sure we see the communities in which the school is set as the foundation of what we are trying to achieve.
I've also learnt that curriculum innovation is hard and that you need to combine negotiating skills with tough mindedness, and try to make sure things keep moving. I've learned quite a lot about the importance of the subject nature in Scottish education - and how we need to keep that subject offering as strong as possible. I think the excellence groups as part of CfE have been particularly important in what I've tried to do.
GTC Scotland is embarking on independence. How do you see this affecting its relationship with Government?
MR: Independence is something I approve of in every sense of the word! It is better to be independent than dependent. As the Minister who took through the secondary legislation to make this happen I showed my commitment to it. It wasn't without its difficulties, particularly towards the end, where I'm not sure there had been a full understanding from the education committee, in particular about what this meant, but we got it through.
It is very important. It is interesting north and south of the border how this is going. South of the border the compulsory registration of teachers is essentially being abandoned, while north of the border we have the world's longest lasting system and it has worked for us. We have a system that worked, we knew it worked but we had to strengthen it and to do this we need to make it more independent and more accountable - not just to Scottish Ministers but to the Scottish community in general. I think this is going to work and I am glad to have been a part of it.
The demise of GTC England has coincided with a strengthening of GTC Scotland. Why do you think this is the case?
MR: Education policy and education practice arises from your education traditions and in England there has always been a tradition of freer access to the profession. I think the Scottish tradition of registration and clear, professional terms and conditions is the one that suits us. I think it's the best one but then of course I would! It suits us, there's never been any question about that - no political party as far as I'm concerned has any notion of changing the system. South of the border it doesn't seem to be the right thing for them. That said, it's their decision and I'm taking no position on it.
Part of the new remit of an independent GTC Scotland will be to design and manage a system of 'professional update'. What are your thoughts on this?
MR: It's a very good idea. I think the Donaldson report showed how important it was that society encourages teachers to constantly refresh and update their skills. I don't see anything challenging in that and I think most teachers would welcome it. I think the confidence and professionalism of the teaching profession, which is already high, will be made even higher by this proposal. I know it's been treated with sensitivity and care by GTC Scotland, but I was very keen to encourage it as part of their new responsibilities and I expect GTC Scotland to take it very seriously.
A pledge has been made that all NQTs will have a job to go to next year. How will this work?
MR: I hope it's going to succeed. We have an agreement in the SNCT that has a figure of a shortfall of 900 jobs in the coming year. If this is followed by the local authorities - and I have no reason to believe it will not be - then we will be well on course to meeting our target of finding enough jobs to absorb the 2,800 newly qualified teachers. Now it is not a one for one, it's about giving them enough jobs to apply for. I think it will work, I think we have made good progress. I also reduced the number of training places for teachers coming in to the profession to 1,800 - that will make a considerable difference because there won't be such a big overhang. In addition to that, we see from the claimant count and the jobseekers allowance figure that month-on-month the picture is improving.
This has been a very difficult problem - I've frequently said it is the problem that has given me the most worry. I hope I've got it right and I will do everything to make sure it does bring the teaching workforce into balance, which is my ambition.
What would you say to newly qualified teachers beginning their career in the profession?
MR: I'd say the situation is improving. The problems that existed last year and the year before are becoming smaller and I think that we can look forward with confidence. I would also say to those teachers who have been unemployed, who have been doing a variety of short-term contracts, that it is also getting better for them - thank goodness. Sorry we didn't get better quicker. The root of this lies in an over expansion of the teaching profession by our predecessors up to 2007, but we did not recognise the over supply quickly enough and that is our fault.
Once we removed ring-fencing and the local authorities were free to deal with the oversupply they then decided to reduce it. Now some went too far, but that having happened I hope the action we have now taken will bring things into balance.
I do, however, think it is a great time to be coming into teaching, I know that some curmudgeons will disagree with me but I think it is a great time. CfE is really sparking off, we know in Scotland that our performance is improving, we are looking at ways in which schools can be evermore active in communities and within the resource constraints that we have we are being ever more imaginative.
I think this is all good and many, many teachers are getting a real kick out of it.
Also, people are not scared to talk. I get a lot of e-mails from teachers who disagree with me and who'll say I don't do this and I don't do that, and I think that is great. It's about very open debate and dialogue. Nothing is 100 per cent rosy, but I think there's a lot of good things happening out there.
Going back to your own schooling, what in your experience made a great teacher?
MR: A passion for your subject. You don't get much out of any job if you don't want to do it. All of us knew teachers who didn't want to do it, not many, but we knew them - but we don't really remember them actually. The ones we remember are those who really loved doing it. I remember my English teacher - Alex Syme - he was a real character. I can remember him in my fifth and sixth year, and I went on to do literature at university, so he must have sparked something in me. He was inspirational because he loved what he did and he wanted to inculcate that love of literature into other people. He was a man who could make the text come alive, who would inspire you - it was great. The fact that we remember the good teachers' names, even what they looked like, says a lot about the great deal of influence teachers have.
I'm married to a headteacher who is passionate about teaching, whose biggest kick comes out of seeing children do well and going on and being ambitious. And teachers have to be ambitious for the young people, for their school and, I would say, for their country too.
Biography A career in politics
Born in 1953 in Bromley, Kent, Michael Russell was later brought up in his father's home town of Troon. He attended Marr College in the town and then Edinburgh University.
He worked in Scotland in a variety of media sectors from 1974 to 1992.
Russell joined the Scottish National Party in 1974 and held a number of senior party posts. He was the campaign manager for Alex Salmond's leadership campaign in 1990 and contested the SNP leadership in 2004.
He was elected to the Scottish Parliament in 1999 as a Regional Member for the South of Scotland, was a founding member of the Parliamentary Bureau and then served as Shadow Minister for Children, Education and Culture. He won the 'Debater of the Year' award in 2000 and was shortlisted for 'Scottish Politician of the Year' in 2002.
Mr Russell lost his seat in 2003, but was re-elected in 2007 when he was appointed Minister for Environment.
He was Minister for Culture, External Affairs and the Constitution, with responsibility for the National Conversation and the White Paper Your Scotland, Your Voice, from February until December 2009 when he was appointed Education Secretary.
Following the recent election, he was returned as MSP for Argyll and Bute and re-appointed as Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning.
He is the author of seven books including one novel, has one son and lives with his wife in rural Argyll.