Committee News Release
CED 007/2003
Tuesday 16 September 2003
PARLIAMENT’S EDUCATION COMMITTEE VISITS GLASGOW SCHOOLS
The Scottish Parliament’ Education Committee will visit two schools in Glasgow today (17 September): St Oswalds School which is for pupils with moderate learning difficulties and Cleveden School which is a mainstream school with some provision for pupils with special needs. (Photographs will be available for local press after 2pm)
The Committee is undertaking these visits to help it look into the issues around educating children and young people who have learning difficulties. This will assist the Committee in understanding the current situation and available provision in preparation for scrutinising the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Bill. The Bill is expected to be put forward by the Executive later this year.
These visits supplement work which the Committee has already done in advance of the Bill being published. This includes taking evidence from Audit Scotland which has published a report on including pupils with special educational needs in mainstream schools. It has also taken evidence from experts in the field of special educational needs.
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton, Deputy Convener of the Education Committee said:
“The Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Bill will be an important and complex piece of legislation and is likely to invoke a lot of debate. It is essential that the Education Committee fully understands the background to this legislation, what difficulties people currently face and what concerns people have. We want to visit schools so we can speak to the children and teachers who will be directly affected by the proposed legislation.”
Background
Photographs of the visit to St Oswalds School will be made available
to newspapers on 17 September after 2pm.
Photographers and camera crews are requested not to attend the visit without
prior authorisation from the Scottish Parliament Media Relations Office as
permission from the school is required.
For further details regarding The Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Bill, please contact the Scottish Executive press office on 0131 244 2670 (Rona Dunbar).
The contact for members of the media is:
Sally Coyne Tel: 0131 348 6269
email: sally.coyne@scottish.parliament.uk
For specific committee information, contact:
Susan Duffy, Senior Assistant Clerk: 0131 348 5238
email: susan.duffy@scottish.parliament.uk
For public information enquiries, contact: 0131 34 85000
For general enquiries, contact: 0845 278 1999 (local
call rate)
Visit our website at: www.scottish.parliament.uk