Tomorrow’s meeting of the committee (9.30am, Wednesday, November 3) will hear how the MSPs got on at the three schools they visited in St Andrews and Barrhead.

Committee convener Mary Mulligan said:

"One of the most important tasks for any Parliamentary committee is the scrutiny of legislation. However, we decided that before we get down to looking carefully at the detail of the Executive’s forthcoming Bill, we wanted to hear from the people with perhaps the closest interest in improving education: the teachers and pupils.

"The trip I made last week to Madras College, St Andrews, went tremendously well, so much so that our discussion with staff and senior pupils overran by an hour. We received a lot of useful information and I am sure that it will stand us in good stead when we come to examine the Bill later this year.

"As well as discussing the Executive’s likely legislative proposals, the teachers we spoke to raised issues such as the implementation of new initiatives like Higher Still and the level of education resources as being among their main concerns. The pupils also expressed some interesting ideas on what makes a good school.

"On Friday, some of the other committee members visited two quite different schools from the one I saw, St Luke’s and Barrhead High Schools. It should be interesting to hear how they got on and to compare and contrast the range of views from schools with different academic and social backgrounds.

"As the standing orders which govern the way committees work are quite flexible, we were able to cover more ground by splitting our members up into smaller travelling groups. This allowed three or four MSPs at a time to visit different schools in different areas. Next month we also hope to visit a primary school in Glasgow."

The full agenda for tomorrow’s meeting of the Education, Culture and Sport Committee is available on the Parliament’s website.

BACKGROUND NOTE

Other significant events relating to the committee and the Improvement in Education Bill include:

Wednesday, November 3: Committee formally reports back on trips to Madras College, St Luke’s and Barrhead High Schools (9.30am, Committee Room 2, Committee Chambers Building)

July 7 – October 31: Scottish Executive’s consultation period on the Bill

September 8: Minister for Children and Education Sam Galbraith gives evidence to the committee on the Executive’s consultation exercise

Around end November: likely introduction of the Bill

The school visits were made by the following MSPs:

Tuesday 26 October

Madras College St Andrews:

Members attending: Mary Mulligan, Cathy Peattie, Karen Gillon and Ian Jenkins.

Friday 29 October

Barrhead High School and St Luke’s High School, Barrhead

Members attending: Ian Welsh, Kenneth MacIntosh and Fiona McLeod

The committee’s full membership is as follows:

Convener: Mary Mulligan (Lab). Karen Gillon (Lab), Ian Jenkins (LD), Kenneth MacIntosh (Lab), Fiona McLeod (SNP), Brian Monteith (Con), Cathy Peattie (Lab), Michael Russell (SNP), Jamie Stone (LD), Nicola Sturgeon (SNP), Ian Welsh (Lab).