BRIAN Boyd's article relating to collaboration between private and state-sector education quotes many facts and figures which do not stand up to scrutiny (December 2).
He says comprehensive education has been successfully operated in Scotland for 30 years. Successfully is, in this case, a subjective adverb. He may think it is successful, others do not. As for the period quoted, he is factually way off
the mark. Two-tier selective state education existed in Scotland until the mid-seventies.
He also states that 98% of children in Scotland attend comprehensive schools. My understanding of this term is that it usually refers to a particular system of secondary education, but obviously in his terms of reference, it means all forms of schooling, including primary schools.
If he bothered to use his calculator he would find the percentage of children who attend comprehensive secondary schools drops to 94%.
So what? one may ask. This is still a large majority. However, if one examines the locations where there is a real choice, for example Glasgow or Edinburgh, a different pattern is evident. The figure for Edinburgh drops to 80% and in Glasgow 90%.
Dr Boyd puts forward the proposition that pupils in independent schools rely heavily on private tutors to supplement
their normal lessons. Where is the evidence for this?
I know of numerous parents in the state system who have paid for private tuition to fulfil their children's ambitions, particularly with regard to attaining the necessary entrance qualifications to over-subscribed university courses.
Likewise, I also know of a number of pupils in state primary schools who have received private tuition to help them pass the entrance examinations for independent secondary schools. Dr Boyd would struggle to find more than a handful of children in the private sector who also have private tutors as the schools themselves target their resources so that each child's potential is fulfilled. After all, this is what the parents are paying for.
Dr Boyd also tells us private schools have smaller class sizes. For example, Hutchesons' Grammar School, which has well over 1200 pupils and is always at the forefront of examination success rates, has an average class size of around
27 pupils.
Can Dr Boyd tell me that the average class size in most state schools is much higher? It will certainly be lower in
state schools when pupils reach fifth year, which is undoubtedly the most demanding year as far as national exams are concerned.
As a parent I know what I value and, no matter how often I am informed I am wrong by educationalists, I will only change my mind when I see evidence that those with better qualifications do not gain access to better opportunities.
Perhaps Dr Boyd should consider that there is a growth in independent day school education and that many parents who are at the financial margins of affordability are choosing to send their children to such establishments.
One of the main benefits to state education of a collaboration between the state and private sector would be the opportunity to learn how to cater effectively for the needs of those children who are able, demanding, and currently under-achieving in most of our urban state schools.
William R Logan,
8 Mayfield Crescent,
Howwood,
Renfrewshire.
December 2.
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