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For the latest news from Scotland see our ScotNews feed at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/
Electric Scotland News
SNP Failing Scotland
Did an anti SNP video last week which I reported in the last newsletter. Since then it's received some 436 views which is actually a lot more than other videos I've done. Got quite a few comments as well which were expected. In the event you haven't viewed it it can be viewed at
http://www.electricscotland.com/inde...ce/sip/snp.htm
I'm featuring a report on the teaching of Scottish History in our education system. It's clear that Scotland was probably one of the very few countries in the world that didn't teach our children about the history of their own country. This is one of the main reasons for me creating this web site.
As I mentioned before I got history at school and took first place but then due to thinking I might go for an accounting career I had to give up history to take economics. I never got much about Scottish history at school so was very interested in learning about our history and thought as I found out more I'd add it to the site.
Reading the Report which I've made our story for this week you can see why I didn't know much about the history of Scotland.
Scottish News from this weeks newspapers
Note that this is a selection and more can be read in our ScotNews feed on our index page where we list news from the past 1-2 weeks. I am partly doing this to build an archive of modern news from and about Scotland as all the newsletters are archived and also indexed on Google and other search engines. I might also add that in newspapers such as the Guardian, Scotsman, Courier, etc. you will find many comments which can be just as interesting as the news story itself and of course you can also add your own comments if you wish.
Scots racing team creates UK’s first electric rally car
The Project eRally team, based in Fife, has created their prototype from a Renault Zoe EV (electric vehicle) with the car to be fully tested by the sport’s regulatory body, the Motor Sports Association, later this month.
Read more at:
http://www.scotsman.com/future-scotl...-car-1-4413770
The beheading of Clan Fraser chief watched by thousands
Simon, 11th Lord Lovat, chief of Clan Fraser, was beheaded following his role in the 1745 Jacobite rising.
Read more at:
http://www.scotsman.com/news/the-beh...ands-1-4414558
Scottish local elections 2017
Scotland will go to the polls again for local authority elections on Thursday 4 May. Here is a breakdown of everything you need to know ahead of the vote.
Read more at:
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-...itics-39495112
Italy's extra moves likely to hit EU fiscal targets in 2017
Rome has to adopt by the end of April new belt-tightening measures to boost revenues by at least 0.2 percent of its gross domestic product to avoid an EU disciplinary procedure for the country's increasing public debt.
Read more at:
http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-ita...KBN17A0J6?il=0
Europe admits G20 economies will miss extra growth target
European Union finance ministers admitted on Saturday that the world's 20 biggest economies (G20) will miss their target of generating additional economic growth through reforms by 2018 and called for reflection on why they have failed.
Read more at:
http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-g20...-idUKKBN17A0GC
Grand National 2017
One For Arthur, ridden by Derek Fox, wins
Read more at:
http://www.bbc.com/sport/horse-racing/39540944
Ceremonies to mark Arras centenary
Events in Edinburgh and France are being held to mark the centenary of the Battle of Arras, in which 18,000 Scots died.
Read more at:
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-39500498
End the discrimination against English, pleads law student
Rebecca Jeynes is now calling on MSPs in a Holyrood petition to back her call for a change in approach in Scotland towards youngsters in her situation.
Read more at:
http://www.scotsman.com/news/politic...dent-1-4415389
Why Dundee should be named culture capital
I ended up in memory lane again last week, after being asked to speak to a group of Scottish student journalists.
Read more at:
http://www.scotsman.com/news/opinion...ital-1-4410106
Birmingham and Liverpool could rival Zurich or Frankfurt.
Voters in Greater Manchester, Merseyside, the West Midlands, the Tees Valley, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, and the West of England will elect powerful mayors on May 4 in the most radical overhaul of local democracy since 1974.
Read more at:
https://inews.co.uk/essentials/news/...st-say-brexit/
Cafe chain Tim Hortons to open on Glasgow’s Argyle Street
Tim Hortons, the Canadian cafe chain, is to open its first UK store in Glasgow, creating hundreds of jobs as it prepares to expand across Britain this year.
Read more at:
http://www.scotsman.com/business/com...reet-1-4416310
Shetland Islands could go independent if Scotland leaves UK
Norman Lamont says the islands may want to stay in the UK as an overseas territory rather than stay with Scotland
Read more at:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk...-a7675666.html
Remembering the sacrifice of The Black Watch
A new memorial to the bravery of the men of The Black Watch who gave their lives in battle in northern Italy is to be erected on Italian soil this summer.
Read more at:
https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news...e-black-watch/
The 2017 Entrepreneurship Report
A Research Project from Drip
Read more at:
https://www.drip.co/entrepreneurship...eneurship_2017
Celebrate National Unicorn Day
Scotland's national animal is being honoured today.
Read more at:
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/scotlan...tting-10189967
Building defects found at 71 more Scottish school buildings
At least 71 more schools in Scotland were found to have similar defects to Edinburgh schools judged to be unsafe, a BBC investigation has found.
Read more at:
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-...itics-39580308
Scotland could join Canada, but should it?
Your responses
Read more at:
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-39570585
Let’s honour Scotland’s greatest daughters
We should back efforts to honour the achievements of remarkable women like Sophia Jex-Blake, says Paris Gourtsoyannis
Read more at:
http://www.scotsman.com/news/opinion...ters-1-4416735
Electric Canadian
Chronicles of Canada
Added Volume 26: The Struggle for Political Freedom: The Tribune of Nova Scotia
I might add that I've found text copies of these volumes so have added a link to them on the page. I also found a page where you can get audio copies so have placed a link to these as well.
You can read this at: http://www.electriccanadian.com/hist...cles/index.htm
D. C. Beard
Author of many books on bush craft for the Boy Scouts of America. I thought I'd bring you a few of them as having found them I enjoyed them and so hope you do as well.
Added another book, "New Ideas for out of doors: The Field and Forrest Handy Book" which you can read at:http://www.electriccanadian.com/pioneering/beard/
Canada's Triumph
Amiens - Arras - Cambrai - August—September—October 1918 by Fred James which you can read at:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/forc...as_triumph.htm
Thirty Canadian V.C.'s
23rd April 1915 to 30th March 1918 Compiled by the Canadian War Records Office which you can read at:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/forc...canadianvc.pdf
Quebec's maple syrup producers seeking global domination
Maple syrup isn't just for pancakes anymore, thanks to a group of maple syrup producers in Quebec who are trying to turn a cottage industry into a global empire.
Read more at:
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-39375257
Conrad Black
I've always had a lot of time for Conrad Black and so as he writes from Canada on a number of issues of interest from around the world I'm intending to include links to his writings for you to view. This week we have
An erosion of our humanity - Part 3
http://www.conradmblack.com/1283/an-...umanity-part-3
Electric Scotland
The Forfar Directory and Year Book
A most interesting publication with lots of wee stories and articles. I have now added the 1900 edition which you can read at:http://www.electricscotland.com/history/forfar/direct/
The Port of Aberdeen
A History of its Trade and Shipping from the 12th Centuary to the Present Day by Victoria E. Clark, M.A. (1921)
You can read this at: http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...ofaberdeen.pdf
Fair Isle: Living on the Edge
Added this half hour video on life on this island from the BBC at the foot of the page which you can view at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...land/index.htm
Guide to Roslin
Found this wee book and added it to our Picturesque Scotland book which you can read at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...que/page64.htm
Templar Order
The Templar’s Path, A Path Towards Wisdom by Domizio Cipriani,.Grand Magistral Prior of Monaco of the Order of Knights Templar of Jerusalem, Principality of Monaco.
Got sent in a copy of this book which we've been given permission to make available as a pdf version for you to read online at:http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...mplarorder.htm
Great Britain at War
By Jefferey Farnol (1918)
Due to the remembrance services going on in France I thought I'd bring you this book to read here at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...itainatWar.pdf
Scottish Society of Indianapolis
Added their Spring 2017 Newsletter which you can read at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/fami...olis/index.htm
A brief history of emigration & immigration in Scotland
A Research Guide
Interesting report showing how many Scots actually went to England, Wales and N. Ireland as well as of course other countries around the world which you can read at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...onresearch.pdf
History of Early Scottish Education
By John Edgar (1893)
Continue to keep an eye out for relevant material on Scottish education which might provide clues as to why we've gone from top of the world rankings to merely average.
You can read this at: http://www.electricscotland.com/educ...cottishedu.pdf
Robert Burns Lives!
Edited by Frank Shaw
How the Victorians Monumentalized Robert Burns: Christopher Whatley’s Immortal Memory: Burns and the Scottish People reviewed by Patrick Scott
It is a joy to welcome retired Professor Patrick Scott back to the pages of Robert Burns Lives! He has and will continue to be a great supporter of RBL, and I attribute much of the success of this website over the years to him and several writers like him. A hearty thanks to Patrick who has proven to be not only a great contributor to our site but a wonderful friend of mine. He is one of the finest scholars around and a man who is a friend to my entire family. Thanks again, Patrick!.
Patrick explained that this is an expanded and revised version of his briefer notice of the book in the last Studies in Scottish Literature. He writes: “I felt that I had not brought out sufficiently the interest and importance of Christopher Whatley’s book, and that it deserved fuller discussion.” Christopher Whatley is Professor of History at the University of Dundee, and his new book was published this past November by John Donald, an imprint of the Edinburgh publisher Birlinn. He contributed an earlier article titled “Robert Burns: Patrician Protégé, People’s Poet” was included on Robert Burns Lives!, as no. 139 (May 2012), which gives fuller biographical information. (P. Scott: 4.13.17)
You can read this article at: http://www.electricscotland.com/fami...s_lives253.htm
The Story
I came across this report in which I read...
A final comment, and an interesting one at that. As an expatriate living in Glasgow for twenty three years and now a committed Scots nationalist, one observation may be offered. Scotland may be the only country in the world, and certainly in Europe, which does not require its youngsters to study its History! Very little Scottish history is studied. Teachers know very little about it, that is both primary and secondary teachers, and even teachers of History in secondary schools are not required to have studied Scottish History at university.
I thus thought you might be interested in reading this report.
The Teaching of History in Scottish Schools since 1945: A Progress Report
Introduction
The first thing I will have to do is to give you some personal details about myself.
I moved to Scotland in 1973 to take up a post in the Modern Studies Department at Jordanhill College of Education which, at that time, was the largest teachers' college in Europe. Over the past year or two, I have begun to look at the teaching of history in the primary (elementary) and secondary schools in Scotland. I have narrowed the time period down to the years beginning in 1945. I'll return to this point later.
My interest in this project was partly related to my training as a historian and partly due to a long interest in the history of American education and education in general. My interest was further stimulated by reading the works of Ivor Goodson in the United Kingdom and Barry Franklin in the United States. However, the time in which curriculum history really took off was when I left for Scotland and in many ways this has been a bit of a problem because I've had to read widely in order to make up for lost time and unfamiliar material.
Before I begin my brief survey of what I have uncovered so far, I feel I must point out first a few key facts abort Scotland and Scottish education. An article I wrote for Social Education in October 1988 would be a very good place to begin for those who are interested in this subject.
Scotland
Scotland is a nation in feeling and belief, if not in political terms. Several weeks ago, an English friend who lives in London and is a sophisticated, worldly person and has travelled quite a bit throughout the world, came up to visit us at our home in Glasgow. At that time, while we were having coffee, he commented that whenever he visited Scotland, or Glasgow in particular, he felt as if he was in a foreign country. This, I think, really says a great deal about Scotland as a nation. If one looks at the history of Scotland and the unification of Scotland as it became part of the United Kingdom, this is an extremely interesting story. In 1603 there was the union of the crowns in which the English and Scottish kings joined together and a new king was placed on the throne of the two countries, James VI of Scotland became James I of the United Kingdom. In 1707, there was the union of the two parliaments which resulted in the elimination of the parliament in Scotland. To this very day, historians still debate the nature of how this union came about. The question has been raised over and over again as to whether or not Scotland was "sold down the river" by a group of Scottish nobility who were trying to improve their status. A famous song by Robert Burns, the national poet of Scotland, entitled "A Parcel of Rogues" makes the point very clearly as Burns definitely uses the term "parcel of rogues' to indicate the Scottish nobility. To this very day there is a debate on this issue.
Yet, in spite of the fact that it became part of the United Kingdom, which is Northern Ireland, England, Wales and Scotland, Scotland has retained three things which are the key elements which make up a nation. First, it has its own established church, the Church of Scotland. Second, it has its own separate legal system. This means that if anyone wishes to practice law in Scotland they must take a Scottish law degree which equips them to practice in Scotland. This does not allow them to practice in England. And the final key feature is, and perhaps most most important to us, that Scotland has retained its own educational system.
Scottish Education
So let us now look at Scottish education. It is definitely not the same as English education. Many of the recent changes in curriculum, assessment, funding and management of schools in England have not been put into practice in Scotland in spite of attempts by the government to implement these policies. Scotland has a long tradition of excellence in education and a long history of government or local government involvement in the support of education, much, much before England. For example, in the 1450s and 1460s three universities were established in Scotland: St. Andrews, Glasgow and Aberdeen. In 1496 the Scottish
parliament passed an act which attempted to set up primary schools and try to make a certain amount of schooling compulsory. In the 1560s, during the Protestant Reformation, John Knox set out a proposal for a national system of schools beginning at the age of 5 and going right through university. In 1696, the Scottish parliament passed a law setting up schools in each parish and in many ways this law seems similar to other acts in the New England colonies in the United States during the 1640s.
If we examine the Social Studies, since this is the focus of this conference, there is no such thing as Social Studies in Scottish schools. In 1995 there are still separate departments in the secondary schools for History, Geography, Economics and Modern Studies. There are separate Heads of Departments and separate external exams offered in each subject. As for Modern Studies, it is a new subject, introduced only in 1962. It concentra'-es and analyses current issues through an inter-disciplinary approach and it has had a tremendous impact on the teaching of social subjects in Scotland and has grown greatly in popularity. It also has been "radical" and innovative in many aspects and I'll come back to that later in the paper.
Scottish education is highly centralised, yet there has been a strong partnership between the Scottish Office Education Department and local authorities. School begins in Scotland at the age of five and primary school runs from five years to twelve years. The secondary school begins at the age of twelve and is primarily a neighbourhood school with compulsory attendance until sixteen years of age. Interestingly, from an American standpoint, there is no such thing as graduation. Pupils leave school at the age of sixteen if they wish. External exams were established in 1888, mainly to provide a certain amount of order to a wide range of schools and curricula which had developed over the years and also to help with entrance to universities. The Scottish Leaving Certificate exams were instituted in that year and the results and the general teaching arrangements were designed to help in the inspection of schools and to provide uniform standards and evaluation. The impact of external exams in the secondary school
programme has been tremendous. In 1988 a new exam, the Standard Grade, was introduced. This exam was to be taken at the end of fourth year of secondary school and was to cover the third and fourth year of teaching in each particular subject. Third and fourth year would be approximately fourteen to sixteen years of age. The Higher exam was to be taken at the end of fifth year and was followed by what was termed a Sixth Year Study. Both of these exams were primarily taken by a small number of pupils, approximately 30% These exams were aimed at those pupils who were planning to go on to attend higher education and the Scottish Highers are required for entrance to a Scottish university.
Research Findings
Now, let's look at my research so far. After much thought and discussion with various people throughout the country, I decided that 1945 was to be the starting point of the research. The reasons for tMs are several. First, that date marked the end of the war and the establishment of the first Labour government. Second, changes in curricula and organisation for the schools in Scotland, which had been postponed by the war, were to be introduced in 1946 and therefore it was a good place to begin since many changes were to take place. Finally, and perhaps most important, there are still people alive who taught during these years and it is these people that I would like to contact, speak with, and gain insight into the teaching of History during these years.
Yet, in order to get a true feel of the situation and considering I was not brought up in this system and did not know all that much about it, I find I have spent a great deal of time reading about the period 1900-1945 and therefore much of what I will say this afternoon is based upon what I have found out about that period.
I have set out a series of questions which I hope to use as a framework for research. These questions are as follows:
a) What was the amount of History required in primary and secondary schools? (The hours per week or time over a year.)
b) Was History taught in a chronological or topical approach?
c) What were the major topics studied in primary school? In secondary school?
d) Was a biographical or "great persons" approach used?
e) What Scottish history was taught? What topics/periods from Scottish history were taught?
f) What types of textbooks were used? Were they political history or social and economic history?
g) Were supplementary materials available? (Pictures, film strips, film, etc.)
h) Were attempts made to integrate Scottish history with Scottish literature?
i) What training or requirements were demanded of History teachers?
I hope to examine teaching in both primary and secondary schools. In many ways secondary school is much simpler to study because the external exams often outlined the syllabus and set out boundaries. Primary school becomes more complicated, mainly because there were often locals and sometimes an individual curriculum in various schools.
So, what have I found so far? These findings are mainly from the years preceding 1945. I have found much that is fascinating and very, very different from my experiences and knowledge of education in the United States. First, History was not a significant subject in the school curriculum, and remember, we are talking History and not Social Studies.
If we examine the primary schools, much that is interesting can be found. First, History was taught as a separate subject along with Geography and sometimes Nature Studies, which was a mixture of science and a study of the local environment. As late as 1950, History was assigned one hour per week in the curriculum. In 1965, a radical new document called The Primary Memorandum was introduced in Scotland. This was a document of its times and one must remember that the Plowden Report was issued in England two years later. This Report still dominates much of the child-centred approach found in Scottish primary schools. It introduced a new term in Scottish education, "environmental studies", which was to be an integrated subject and include History, Geography, Science, Environmental Education combined in one complete topic area. In the History syllabus, topics were biographical in the early stages of primary school and in the later years they centred mainly upon the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. There was very little Scottish history taught, apart from "Bonnie Prince Charlie" and "the Jacobite Rising in 1745". The textbooks were chronological, dull and poorly illustrated. In the secondary schools, things were very much the same. Until 1973, the school-leaving age was fifteen. Allied to the selective nature of the secondary schools, most pupils did very little History before they left school. Even the pupils who stayed on at secondary school were not required to study History, nor did they have to study History if they went to university.
Almost from the introduction of the external exams in 1888, History was not an important or required subject. For most of the time from 1888 to 1946, History was often a section of the English exam paper and was minimal in its content. Attempts were made to offer History as a separate exam paper from 1909 to 1914 but the war affected the progress and, along with negative attitudes towards the subject, this experiment failed and throughout all of the inter-war years History remained in a weak position. In 1939, the decision was made that History should become a separate exam, but due to World War II, this was not implemented until 1946/47. Throughout the period to 1945, inspectorate reports almost always criticised the teaching of History, both in primary and secondary schools. The reports stated that the content was minimal, teachers were not properly trained and the methods relied upon were mainly rote and recall. Even with the introduction of the exam at Higher level in 1946, the status of the subject was low. History teachers were attached to an English Department. There was no separate History Department. It was not until the early 1960s that separate History Departments were created, along with a separate Head of Department post. A colleague of mine recalls that when he began his teaching career in the late 1950s, he worked under the Head of the English Department and in 1962 he became the first Head of a History Department in his school.
In 1962, a new O-Grade (Ordinary) exam was introduced for fourth year pupils and more youngsters could now take the exam. But it was not required and at the same time was competing with Geography and the new subjects which had been introduced in that year, Modern Studies and Economics. The introduction of Modern Studies in 1962 and its growth over the past thirty years has gradually weakened the status of History in the secondary schools. Today, Modern Studies is almost equal in terms of the numbers of pupils who take the exams and the History, Geography and Economics exams still exist, so that History is certainly not in a very strong position.
I hope over the next few years to concentrate on interviews with teachers in order to get an idea of w! it and how they taught, particularly in primary schools. At the same time I'll examine syllabi, textbooks and other supplementary material in order to find out just what was happening in the classroom, as best as one can.
A final comment, and an interesting one at that. As an expatriate living in Glasgow for twenty three years and now a committed Scots national, one observation may be offered. Scotland may be the only country in the world, and certainly in Europe, which does not require its youngsters to study its History! Very little Scottish history is studied. Teachers know very little about it, that is both primary and secondary teachers, and even teachers of History in secondary schools are not required to have studied Scottish History at university. The same is true of Scots Literature. My wife is an English teacher and constantly fights a battle to emphasise and include Scottish Literature in the English syllabus in her school. My final thought is that I hope to be able, in several years, to return to this conference and provide the audience with a detailed picture of just how History was taught in Scotland since 1945.
Dr.Martin Feldman November 1995
Department of Educational Studies
University of Strathclyde
Faculty of Education
Glasgow G13 1PP
Scotland
And that's it for this week and I hope you all have a good weekend.
Alastair
http://www.electricscotland.com/
Electric Scotland News
SNP Failing Scotland
Did an anti SNP video last week which I reported in the last newsletter. Since then it's received some 436 views which is actually a lot more than other videos I've done. Got quite a few comments as well which were expected. In the event you haven't viewed it it can be viewed at
http://www.electricscotland.com/inde...ce/sip/snp.htm
I'm featuring a report on the teaching of Scottish History in our education system. It's clear that Scotland was probably one of the very few countries in the world that didn't teach our children about the history of their own country. This is one of the main reasons for me creating this web site.
As I mentioned before I got history at school and took first place but then due to thinking I might go for an accounting career I had to give up history to take economics. I never got much about Scottish history at school so was very interested in learning about our history and thought as I found out more I'd add it to the site.
Reading the Report which I've made our story for this week you can see why I didn't know much about the history of Scotland.
Scottish News from this weeks newspapers
Note that this is a selection and more can be read in our ScotNews feed on our index page where we list news from the past 1-2 weeks. I am partly doing this to build an archive of modern news from and about Scotland as all the newsletters are archived and also indexed on Google and other search engines. I might also add that in newspapers such as the Guardian, Scotsman, Courier, etc. you will find many comments which can be just as interesting as the news story itself and of course you can also add your own comments if you wish.
Scots racing team creates UK’s first electric rally car
The Project eRally team, based in Fife, has created their prototype from a Renault Zoe EV (electric vehicle) with the car to be fully tested by the sport’s regulatory body, the Motor Sports Association, later this month.
Read more at:
http://www.scotsman.com/future-scotl...-car-1-4413770
The beheading of Clan Fraser chief watched by thousands
Simon, 11th Lord Lovat, chief of Clan Fraser, was beheaded following his role in the 1745 Jacobite rising.
Read more at:
http://www.scotsman.com/news/the-beh...ands-1-4414558
Scottish local elections 2017
Scotland will go to the polls again for local authority elections on Thursday 4 May. Here is a breakdown of everything you need to know ahead of the vote.
Read more at:
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-...itics-39495112
Italy's extra moves likely to hit EU fiscal targets in 2017
Rome has to adopt by the end of April new belt-tightening measures to boost revenues by at least 0.2 percent of its gross domestic product to avoid an EU disciplinary procedure for the country's increasing public debt.
Read more at:
http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-ita...KBN17A0J6?il=0
Europe admits G20 economies will miss extra growth target
European Union finance ministers admitted on Saturday that the world's 20 biggest economies (G20) will miss their target of generating additional economic growth through reforms by 2018 and called for reflection on why they have failed.
Read more at:
http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-g20...-idUKKBN17A0GC
Grand National 2017
One For Arthur, ridden by Derek Fox, wins
Read more at:
http://www.bbc.com/sport/horse-racing/39540944
Ceremonies to mark Arras centenary
Events in Edinburgh and France are being held to mark the centenary of the Battle of Arras, in which 18,000 Scots died.
Read more at:
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-39500498
End the discrimination against English, pleads law student
Rebecca Jeynes is now calling on MSPs in a Holyrood petition to back her call for a change in approach in Scotland towards youngsters in her situation.
Read more at:
http://www.scotsman.com/news/politic...dent-1-4415389
Why Dundee should be named culture capital
I ended up in memory lane again last week, after being asked to speak to a group of Scottish student journalists.
Read more at:
http://www.scotsman.com/news/opinion...ital-1-4410106
Birmingham and Liverpool could rival Zurich or Frankfurt.
Voters in Greater Manchester, Merseyside, the West Midlands, the Tees Valley, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, and the West of England will elect powerful mayors on May 4 in the most radical overhaul of local democracy since 1974.
Read more at:
https://inews.co.uk/essentials/news/...st-say-brexit/
Cafe chain Tim Hortons to open on Glasgow’s Argyle Street
Tim Hortons, the Canadian cafe chain, is to open its first UK store in Glasgow, creating hundreds of jobs as it prepares to expand across Britain this year.
Read more at:
http://www.scotsman.com/business/com...reet-1-4416310
Shetland Islands could go independent if Scotland leaves UK
Norman Lamont says the islands may want to stay in the UK as an overseas territory rather than stay with Scotland
Read more at:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk...-a7675666.html
Remembering the sacrifice of The Black Watch
A new memorial to the bravery of the men of The Black Watch who gave their lives in battle in northern Italy is to be erected on Italian soil this summer.
Read more at:
https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news...e-black-watch/
The 2017 Entrepreneurship Report
A Research Project from Drip
Read more at:
https://www.drip.co/entrepreneurship...eneurship_2017
Celebrate National Unicorn Day
Scotland's national animal is being honoured today.
Read more at:
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/scotlan...tting-10189967
Building defects found at 71 more Scottish school buildings
At least 71 more schools in Scotland were found to have similar defects to Edinburgh schools judged to be unsafe, a BBC investigation has found.
Read more at:
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-...itics-39580308
Scotland could join Canada, but should it?
Your responses
Read more at:
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-39570585
Let’s honour Scotland’s greatest daughters
We should back efforts to honour the achievements of remarkable women like Sophia Jex-Blake, says Paris Gourtsoyannis
Read more at:
http://www.scotsman.com/news/opinion...ters-1-4416735
Electric Canadian
Chronicles of Canada
Added Volume 26: The Struggle for Political Freedom: The Tribune of Nova Scotia
I might add that I've found text copies of these volumes so have added a link to them on the page. I also found a page where you can get audio copies so have placed a link to these as well.
You can read this at: http://www.electriccanadian.com/hist...cles/index.htm
D. C. Beard
Author of many books on bush craft for the Boy Scouts of America. I thought I'd bring you a few of them as having found them I enjoyed them and so hope you do as well.
Added another book, "New Ideas for out of doors: The Field and Forrest Handy Book" which you can read at:http://www.electriccanadian.com/pioneering/beard/
Canada's Triumph
Amiens - Arras - Cambrai - August—September—October 1918 by Fred James which you can read at:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/forc...as_triumph.htm
Thirty Canadian V.C.'s
23rd April 1915 to 30th March 1918 Compiled by the Canadian War Records Office which you can read at:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/forc...canadianvc.pdf
Quebec's maple syrup producers seeking global domination
Maple syrup isn't just for pancakes anymore, thanks to a group of maple syrup producers in Quebec who are trying to turn a cottage industry into a global empire.
Read more at:
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-39375257
Conrad Black
I've always had a lot of time for Conrad Black and so as he writes from Canada on a number of issues of interest from around the world I'm intending to include links to his writings for you to view. This week we have
An erosion of our humanity - Part 3
http://www.conradmblack.com/1283/an-...umanity-part-3
Electric Scotland
The Forfar Directory and Year Book
A most interesting publication with lots of wee stories and articles. I have now added the 1900 edition which you can read at:http://www.electricscotland.com/history/forfar/direct/
The Port of Aberdeen
A History of its Trade and Shipping from the 12th Centuary to the Present Day by Victoria E. Clark, M.A. (1921)
You can read this at: http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...ofaberdeen.pdf
Fair Isle: Living on the Edge
Added this half hour video on life on this island from the BBC at the foot of the page which you can view at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...land/index.htm
Guide to Roslin
Found this wee book and added it to our Picturesque Scotland book which you can read at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...que/page64.htm
Templar Order
The Templar’s Path, A Path Towards Wisdom by Domizio Cipriani,.Grand Magistral Prior of Monaco of the Order of Knights Templar of Jerusalem, Principality of Monaco.
Got sent in a copy of this book which we've been given permission to make available as a pdf version for you to read online at:http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...mplarorder.htm
Great Britain at War
By Jefferey Farnol (1918)
Due to the remembrance services going on in France I thought I'd bring you this book to read here at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...itainatWar.pdf
Scottish Society of Indianapolis
Added their Spring 2017 Newsletter which you can read at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/fami...olis/index.htm
A brief history of emigration & immigration in Scotland
A Research Guide
Interesting report showing how many Scots actually went to England, Wales and N. Ireland as well as of course other countries around the world which you can read at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...onresearch.pdf
History of Early Scottish Education
By John Edgar (1893)
Continue to keep an eye out for relevant material on Scottish education which might provide clues as to why we've gone from top of the world rankings to merely average.
You can read this at: http://www.electricscotland.com/educ...cottishedu.pdf
Robert Burns Lives!
Edited by Frank Shaw
How the Victorians Monumentalized Robert Burns: Christopher Whatley’s Immortal Memory: Burns and the Scottish People reviewed by Patrick Scott
It is a joy to welcome retired Professor Patrick Scott back to the pages of Robert Burns Lives! He has and will continue to be a great supporter of RBL, and I attribute much of the success of this website over the years to him and several writers like him. A hearty thanks to Patrick who has proven to be not only a great contributor to our site but a wonderful friend of mine. He is one of the finest scholars around and a man who is a friend to my entire family. Thanks again, Patrick!.
Patrick explained that this is an expanded and revised version of his briefer notice of the book in the last Studies in Scottish Literature. He writes: “I felt that I had not brought out sufficiently the interest and importance of Christopher Whatley’s book, and that it deserved fuller discussion.” Christopher Whatley is Professor of History at the University of Dundee, and his new book was published this past November by John Donald, an imprint of the Edinburgh publisher Birlinn. He contributed an earlier article titled “Robert Burns: Patrician Protégé, People’s Poet” was included on Robert Burns Lives!, as no. 139 (May 2012), which gives fuller biographical information. (P. Scott: 4.13.17)
You can read this article at: http://www.electricscotland.com/fami...s_lives253.htm
The Story
I came across this report in which I read...
A final comment, and an interesting one at that. As an expatriate living in Glasgow for twenty three years and now a committed Scots nationalist, one observation may be offered. Scotland may be the only country in the world, and certainly in Europe, which does not require its youngsters to study its History! Very little Scottish history is studied. Teachers know very little about it, that is both primary and secondary teachers, and even teachers of History in secondary schools are not required to have studied Scottish History at university.
I thus thought you might be interested in reading this report.
The Teaching of History in Scottish Schools since 1945: A Progress Report
Introduction
The first thing I will have to do is to give you some personal details about myself.
I moved to Scotland in 1973 to take up a post in the Modern Studies Department at Jordanhill College of Education which, at that time, was the largest teachers' college in Europe. Over the past year or two, I have begun to look at the teaching of history in the primary (elementary) and secondary schools in Scotland. I have narrowed the time period down to the years beginning in 1945. I'll return to this point later.
My interest in this project was partly related to my training as a historian and partly due to a long interest in the history of American education and education in general. My interest was further stimulated by reading the works of Ivor Goodson in the United Kingdom and Barry Franklin in the United States. However, the time in which curriculum history really took off was when I left for Scotland and in many ways this has been a bit of a problem because I've had to read widely in order to make up for lost time and unfamiliar material.
Before I begin my brief survey of what I have uncovered so far, I feel I must point out first a few key facts abort Scotland and Scottish education. An article I wrote for Social Education in October 1988 would be a very good place to begin for those who are interested in this subject.
Scotland
Scotland is a nation in feeling and belief, if not in political terms. Several weeks ago, an English friend who lives in London and is a sophisticated, worldly person and has travelled quite a bit throughout the world, came up to visit us at our home in Glasgow. At that time, while we were having coffee, he commented that whenever he visited Scotland, or Glasgow in particular, he felt as if he was in a foreign country. This, I think, really says a great deal about Scotland as a nation. If one looks at the history of Scotland and the unification of Scotland as it became part of the United Kingdom, this is an extremely interesting story. In 1603 there was the union of the crowns in which the English and Scottish kings joined together and a new king was placed on the throne of the two countries, James VI of Scotland became James I of the United Kingdom. In 1707, there was the union of the two parliaments which resulted in the elimination of the parliament in Scotland. To this very day, historians still debate the nature of how this union came about. The question has been raised over and over again as to whether or not Scotland was "sold down the river" by a group of Scottish nobility who were trying to improve their status. A famous song by Robert Burns, the national poet of Scotland, entitled "A Parcel of Rogues" makes the point very clearly as Burns definitely uses the term "parcel of rogues' to indicate the Scottish nobility. To this very day there is a debate on this issue.
Yet, in spite of the fact that it became part of the United Kingdom, which is Northern Ireland, England, Wales and Scotland, Scotland has retained three things which are the key elements which make up a nation. First, it has its own established church, the Church of Scotland. Second, it has its own separate legal system. This means that if anyone wishes to practice law in Scotland they must take a Scottish law degree which equips them to practice in Scotland. This does not allow them to practice in England. And the final key feature is, and perhaps most most important to us, that Scotland has retained its own educational system.
Scottish Education
So let us now look at Scottish education. It is definitely not the same as English education. Many of the recent changes in curriculum, assessment, funding and management of schools in England have not been put into practice in Scotland in spite of attempts by the government to implement these policies. Scotland has a long tradition of excellence in education and a long history of government or local government involvement in the support of education, much, much before England. For example, in the 1450s and 1460s three universities were established in Scotland: St. Andrews, Glasgow and Aberdeen. In 1496 the Scottish
parliament passed an act which attempted to set up primary schools and try to make a certain amount of schooling compulsory. In the 1560s, during the Protestant Reformation, John Knox set out a proposal for a national system of schools beginning at the age of 5 and going right through university. In 1696, the Scottish parliament passed a law setting up schools in each parish and in many ways this law seems similar to other acts in the New England colonies in the United States during the 1640s.
If we examine the Social Studies, since this is the focus of this conference, there is no such thing as Social Studies in Scottish schools. In 1995 there are still separate departments in the secondary schools for History, Geography, Economics and Modern Studies. There are separate Heads of Departments and separate external exams offered in each subject. As for Modern Studies, it is a new subject, introduced only in 1962. It concentra'-es and analyses current issues through an inter-disciplinary approach and it has had a tremendous impact on the teaching of social subjects in Scotland and has grown greatly in popularity. It also has been "radical" and innovative in many aspects and I'll come back to that later in the paper.
Scottish education is highly centralised, yet there has been a strong partnership between the Scottish Office Education Department and local authorities. School begins in Scotland at the age of five and primary school runs from five years to twelve years. The secondary school begins at the age of twelve and is primarily a neighbourhood school with compulsory attendance until sixteen years of age. Interestingly, from an American standpoint, there is no such thing as graduation. Pupils leave school at the age of sixteen if they wish. External exams were established in 1888, mainly to provide a certain amount of order to a wide range of schools and curricula which had developed over the years and also to help with entrance to universities. The Scottish Leaving Certificate exams were instituted in that year and the results and the general teaching arrangements were designed to help in the inspection of schools and to provide uniform standards and evaluation. The impact of external exams in the secondary school
programme has been tremendous. In 1988 a new exam, the Standard Grade, was introduced. This exam was to be taken at the end of fourth year of secondary school and was to cover the third and fourth year of teaching in each particular subject. Third and fourth year would be approximately fourteen to sixteen years of age. The Higher exam was to be taken at the end of fifth year and was followed by what was termed a Sixth Year Study. Both of these exams were primarily taken by a small number of pupils, approximately 30% These exams were aimed at those pupils who were planning to go on to attend higher education and the Scottish Highers are required for entrance to a Scottish university.
Research Findings
Now, let's look at my research so far. After much thought and discussion with various people throughout the country, I decided that 1945 was to be the starting point of the research. The reasons for tMs are several. First, that date marked the end of the war and the establishment of the first Labour government. Second, changes in curricula and organisation for the schools in Scotland, which had been postponed by the war, were to be introduced in 1946 and therefore it was a good place to begin since many changes were to take place. Finally, and perhaps most important, there are still people alive who taught during these years and it is these people that I would like to contact, speak with, and gain insight into the teaching of History during these years.
Yet, in order to get a true feel of the situation and considering I was not brought up in this system and did not know all that much about it, I find I have spent a great deal of time reading about the period 1900-1945 and therefore much of what I will say this afternoon is based upon what I have found out about that period.
I have set out a series of questions which I hope to use as a framework for research. These questions are as follows:
a) What was the amount of History required in primary and secondary schools? (The hours per week or time over a year.)
b) Was History taught in a chronological or topical approach?
c) What were the major topics studied in primary school? In secondary school?
d) Was a biographical or "great persons" approach used?
e) What Scottish history was taught? What topics/periods from Scottish history were taught?
f) What types of textbooks were used? Were they political history or social and economic history?
g) Were supplementary materials available? (Pictures, film strips, film, etc.)
h) Were attempts made to integrate Scottish history with Scottish literature?
i) What training or requirements were demanded of History teachers?
I hope to examine teaching in both primary and secondary schools. In many ways secondary school is much simpler to study because the external exams often outlined the syllabus and set out boundaries. Primary school becomes more complicated, mainly because there were often locals and sometimes an individual curriculum in various schools.
So, what have I found so far? These findings are mainly from the years preceding 1945. I have found much that is fascinating and very, very different from my experiences and knowledge of education in the United States. First, History was not a significant subject in the school curriculum, and remember, we are talking History and not Social Studies.
If we examine the primary schools, much that is interesting can be found. First, History was taught as a separate subject along with Geography and sometimes Nature Studies, which was a mixture of science and a study of the local environment. As late as 1950, History was assigned one hour per week in the curriculum. In 1965, a radical new document called The Primary Memorandum was introduced in Scotland. This was a document of its times and one must remember that the Plowden Report was issued in England two years later. This Report still dominates much of the child-centred approach found in Scottish primary schools. It introduced a new term in Scottish education, "environmental studies", which was to be an integrated subject and include History, Geography, Science, Environmental Education combined in one complete topic area. In the History syllabus, topics were biographical in the early stages of primary school and in the later years they centred mainly upon the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. There was very little Scottish history taught, apart from "Bonnie Prince Charlie" and "the Jacobite Rising in 1745". The textbooks were chronological, dull and poorly illustrated. In the secondary schools, things were very much the same. Until 1973, the school-leaving age was fifteen. Allied to the selective nature of the secondary schools, most pupils did very little History before they left school. Even the pupils who stayed on at secondary school were not required to study History, nor did they have to study History if they went to university.
Almost from the introduction of the external exams in 1888, History was not an important or required subject. For most of the time from 1888 to 1946, History was often a section of the English exam paper and was minimal in its content. Attempts were made to offer History as a separate exam paper from 1909 to 1914 but the war affected the progress and, along with negative attitudes towards the subject, this experiment failed and throughout all of the inter-war years History remained in a weak position. In 1939, the decision was made that History should become a separate exam, but due to World War II, this was not implemented until 1946/47. Throughout the period to 1945, inspectorate reports almost always criticised the teaching of History, both in primary and secondary schools. The reports stated that the content was minimal, teachers were not properly trained and the methods relied upon were mainly rote and recall. Even with the introduction of the exam at Higher level in 1946, the status of the subject was low. History teachers were attached to an English Department. There was no separate History Department. It was not until the early 1960s that separate History Departments were created, along with a separate Head of Department post. A colleague of mine recalls that when he began his teaching career in the late 1950s, he worked under the Head of the English Department and in 1962 he became the first Head of a History Department in his school.
In 1962, a new O-Grade (Ordinary) exam was introduced for fourth year pupils and more youngsters could now take the exam. But it was not required and at the same time was competing with Geography and the new subjects which had been introduced in that year, Modern Studies and Economics. The introduction of Modern Studies in 1962 and its growth over the past thirty years has gradually weakened the status of History in the secondary schools. Today, Modern Studies is almost equal in terms of the numbers of pupils who take the exams and the History, Geography and Economics exams still exist, so that History is certainly not in a very strong position.
I hope over the next few years to concentrate on interviews with teachers in order to get an idea of w! it and how they taught, particularly in primary schools. At the same time I'll examine syllabi, textbooks and other supplementary material in order to find out just what was happening in the classroom, as best as one can.
A final comment, and an interesting one at that. As an expatriate living in Glasgow for twenty three years and now a committed Scots national, one observation may be offered. Scotland may be the only country in the world, and certainly in Europe, which does not require its youngsters to study its History! Very little Scottish history is studied. Teachers know very little about it, that is both primary and secondary teachers, and even teachers of History in secondary schools are not required to have studied Scottish History at university. The same is true of Scots Literature. My wife is an English teacher and constantly fights a battle to emphasise and include Scottish Literature in the English syllabus in her school. My final thought is that I hope to be able, in several years, to return to this conference and provide the audience with a detailed picture of just how History was taught in Scotland since 1945.
Dr.Martin Feldman November 1995
Department of Educational Studies
University of Strathclyde
Faculty of Education
Glasgow G13 1PP
Scotland
And that's it for this week and I hope you all have a good weekend.
Alastair
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