0:00:10 > 0:00:14The only thing that every adult in Scotland has in common is that
0:00:14 > 0:00:16each and every one of us shared a childhood.
0:00:19 > 0:00:23How we were raised shaped not just us, but our nation.
0:00:25 > 0:00:30Over the last century, childhood has changed dramatically,
0:00:30 > 0:00:32from where and how children play
0:00:32 > 0:00:35to their chances of even surviving to adulthood.
0:00:40 > 0:00:44And our strongest collective memory is our time at Scottish schools.
0:00:47 > 0:00:50From the remotest corners of the country...
0:00:53 > 0:00:56..to our largest cities...
0:00:58 > 0:01:00..a Scottish education has always reflected
0:01:00 > 0:01:02the changing face of our country.
0:01:06 > 0:01:08And as individuals and a nation,
0:01:08 > 0:01:12our experience behind the school gates has always been a vital part
0:01:12 > 0:01:16of who we are and who we are going to be.
0:01:27 > 0:01:31This afternoon, we are broadcasting a talk by Sir William McKechnie,
0:01:31 > 0:01:35former permanent secretary of the Scottish Education Department.
0:01:35 > 0:01:38Children of Scotland,
0:01:38 > 0:01:40it is a great thing to be a Scot
0:01:40 > 0:01:46and it is a great thing to be taught in our Scottish schools.
0:01:46 > 0:01:49You have inherited a great tradition,
0:01:49 > 0:01:52you must prove yourselves worthy of it.
0:01:52 > 0:01:55That, children of Scotland,
0:01:55 > 0:01:59is the part you have to play as world citizens.
0:01:59 > 0:02:00If you play it well,
0:02:00 > 0:02:04you may rest assured that the fame of Scotland
0:02:04 > 0:02:09shall continue to be great among the nations.
0:02:13 > 0:02:16THEY LAUGH
0:02:20 > 0:02:23680,000 pupils
0:02:23 > 0:02:27taught by over 50,000 teachers
0:02:27 > 0:02:29in Scotland's 2,500 schools.
0:02:32 > 0:02:35An educational system that was once considered
0:02:35 > 0:02:38the finest and fairest in the world.
0:02:42 > 0:02:44It all began in the 16th century,
0:02:44 > 0:02:48with the architect of Scotland's Protestant Reformation,
0:02:48 > 0:02:49John Knox.
0:02:51 > 0:02:56This is the Book of Discipline, which is, you could argue,
0:02:56 > 0:03:01the foundation charter of the Protestant Reformation in Scotland.
0:03:01 > 0:03:02Written in the 1540s.
0:03:02 > 0:03:07But what is particularly interesting is the sections on education,
0:03:07 > 0:03:13because they have gone down in history as the basis for what
0:03:13 > 0:03:16eventually became an educational revolution.
0:03:19 > 0:03:21"Of necessity, therefore, we judge it
0:03:21 > 0:03:24"that every several church have a schoolmaster appointed,
0:03:24 > 0:03:29"that in every notable town there be erected a college in which the arts,
0:03:29 > 0:03:31"at least logic and rhetoric,
0:03:31 > 0:03:35"together with the tongues, be read by sufficient masters,
0:03:35 > 0:03:38"for whom honest stipends must be appointed."
0:03:39 > 0:03:42The formulation of the Book of Discipline gave Scotland
0:03:42 > 0:03:46one of the first national educational systems, to ensure that
0:03:46 > 0:03:49in the 900-odd parishes of Scotland, there would be
0:03:49 > 0:03:51a schoolmaster, a schoolhouse,
0:03:51 > 0:03:55and the people were expected to send their children to it.
0:03:55 > 0:03:57Added to this religious tradition
0:03:57 > 0:04:00came a drive for universal improvement
0:04:00 > 0:04:04from the 18th-century Scottish Enlightenment,
0:04:04 > 0:04:08to create an education system that was celebrated around the world.
0:04:10 > 0:04:12You have people like
0:04:12 > 0:04:14De Remusat, a great French philosopher,
0:04:14 > 0:04:19saying that the working classes in Scotland were educated to a degree
0:04:19 > 0:04:23beyond anything he had ever come across in Europe.
0:04:24 > 0:04:28And that was a badge of pride for Scots of every class.
0:04:29 > 0:04:32Certainly, by the beginning of the 19th century,
0:04:32 > 0:04:36you could point to a universality of provision in Scotland.
0:04:36 > 0:04:40Every parish had some kind of school
0:04:40 > 0:04:42and every school had some kind of
0:04:42 > 0:04:47reasonably well-qualified dominie or teacher.
0:04:47 > 0:04:52Girls could go to school, so every child within that school
0:04:52 > 0:04:56had the opportunity to get the kind of education that Knox had outlined.
0:04:56 > 0:05:00- It was an important part of the Scottish brand.- Scotland was
0:05:00 > 0:05:02undeniably superior to England, at that stage.
0:05:02 > 0:05:06If you are in bed with an elephant, as Scotland was, in relation
0:05:06 > 0:05:09to a much more influential power, militarily,
0:05:09 > 0:05:12economically and politically, if you are in bed with an elephant,
0:05:12 > 0:05:15you strive to find out, as the junior partner,
0:05:15 > 0:05:18ways in which you are their equal
0:05:18 > 0:05:21or superior. And one area was education.
0:05:23 > 0:05:27But, by the mid-19th century, the parochial school system,
0:05:27 > 0:05:31a badge of national identity that had given Scots such
0:05:31 > 0:05:34an educational head start over much of the world, began to collapse.
0:05:38 > 0:05:41The new industrial age saw the working poor
0:05:41 > 0:05:43leave the village parish schools behind
0:05:43 > 0:05:47and pour into the factories of Scotland's new cities.
0:05:47 > 0:05:50It was no longer enough to just educate people
0:05:50 > 0:05:53to read the Bible, because you had to educate people to take part,
0:05:53 > 0:05:56as workers in the new industrial economy of the capitalist period
0:05:56 > 0:05:58of the 19th century.
0:05:58 > 0:06:00And there was especially big problems in the cities,
0:06:00 > 0:06:04because of the huge expansion in Scottish urbanisation,
0:06:04 > 0:06:05plus of course,
0:06:05 > 0:06:08there was the arrival of the Irish Catholic
0:06:08 > 0:06:12and Protestant immigrants, particularly the Irish Catholic
0:06:12 > 0:06:13immigrant group,
0:06:13 > 0:06:17coming from a society where there was profound levels of illiteracy.
0:06:19 > 0:06:22The upheaval of the 19th century
0:06:22 > 0:06:24played havoc with the Scottish school system.
0:06:24 > 0:06:27Once the pride of the nation,
0:06:27 > 0:06:31it was now under-resourced and poorly attended.
0:06:31 > 0:06:34In 1872, the state decided to act.
0:06:34 > 0:06:39All of Scotland's children would now be legally required to attend school
0:06:39 > 0:06:44between the ages of five and 13, and locally-elected school boards,
0:06:44 > 0:06:48backed with public funds, would be tasked with modernising education.
0:06:50 > 0:06:52To accommodate this new influx of students,
0:06:52 > 0:06:56the school boards started building - on a monumental scale.
0:06:56 > 0:07:00If you look around, not just the urban landscape of Scotland,
0:07:00 > 0:07:02many of the small towns, as well,
0:07:02 > 0:07:04you can still see the schools that were built in that
0:07:04 > 0:07:06enormous building boom of schools
0:07:06 > 0:07:11between 1872 and the turn of the 19th into the 20th centuries.
0:07:11 > 0:07:15The foundations for a new educational landscape had been set
0:07:15 > 0:07:19in stone and one of the first examples can still be found
0:07:19 > 0:07:23in an area that was one of Scotland's poorest of the period.
0:07:23 > 0:07:24This is Tureen Street school,
0:07:24 > 0:07:27in the Calton district of Glasgow's East End.
0:07:27 > 0:07:30It's a remarkable building, isn't it?
0:07:30 > 0:07:33They are built to make a statement, and I think this statement is,
0:07:33 > 0:07:35"Bring your children here. We will house them
0:07:35 > 0:07:40"and we will also civilise them"! So, the immediate demand, I think,
0:07:40 > 0:07:45became to provide decent, proper schools for everybody.
0:07:45 > 0:07:47There was a great deal of urgency about it, I think.
0:07:49 > 0:07:52These schools were built to hold up to 1,200 pupils,
0:07:52 > 0:07:58but Tureen Street was extended in 1884 and 1902, to cope
0:07:58 > 0:08:00with the increasing numbers.
0:08:00 > 0:08:02And such was the immense demand,
0:08:02 > 0:08:07Glasgow School Board had to build another, even bigger, school
0:08:07 > 0:08:08just a stone's throw away.
0:08:08 > 0:08:10Here is another school,
0:08:10 > 0:08:13St James's Public School, within, what, 100 yards?
0:08:13 > 0:08:15Although they are two separate schools,
0:08:15 > 0:08:19in many ways, they are making a very similar statement about the kind
0:08:19 > 0:08:22of relationship they have with the community around them.
0:08:22 > 0:08:24It is almost like
0:08:24 > 0:08:27a citadel fortress looming over the neighbourhood.
0:08:27 > 0:08:30It was a school for the public, but it is reminding the public
0:08:30 > 0:08:33exactly who they are in relationship
0:08:33 > 0:08:35to the education board that has provided it.
0:08:35 > 0:08:38They were, if you like, temples to learning -
0:08:38 > 0:08:41that is putting it positively - or temples to social control.
0:08:41 > 0:08:45If you teach people in schools to be obedient, to follow rules,
0:08:45 > 0:08:46to turn up on time,
0:08:46 > 0:08:49then you are teaching them also to be obedient workers
0:08:49 > 0:08:51in a capitalist industrial economy.
0:08:53 > 0:08:55For the first time,
0:08:55 > 0:08:59the children of the urban poor were gathered together under one roof,
0:08:59 > 0:09:03and soon, the condition of those children became all too apparent.
0:09:03 > 0:09:07The future Labour MP, James Maxton,
0:09:07 > 0:09:10was a teacher at St James's Public School.
0:09:10 > 0:09:12He was asked to take an exercise class
0:09:12 > 0:09:15and was appalled at what he saw.
0:09:16 > 0:09:21"30 out of 60 youngsters could not bring both heels and knees together,
0:09:21 > 0:09:24"because of rickety malformations."
0:09:27 > 0:09:31The poverty of the era did not stop at the school gates.
0:09:31 > 0:09:34Now that needy children had been gathered together in one place,
0:09:34 > 0:09:39the authorities took the opportunity to make a meaningful change.
0:09:40 > 0:09:44So what you find from round about the period of 1905 to 1908
0:09:44 > 0:09:46is the beginning of a child welfare programme,
0:09:46 > 0:09:50the beginnings of things like free milk being provided to children,
0:09:50 > 0:09:52subsidised meals, as well.
0:09:52 > 0:09:53The schooling in Scotland
0:09:53 > 0:09:55became almost a precursor of what eventually
0:09:55 > 0:10:00happened after 1945 - the development of the welfare state.
0:10:00 > 0:10:02'Health authorities and educationists combined
0:10:02 > 0:10:04'to look after the health of every child.
0:10:04 > 0:10:07'They arranged for children whose parents were hard up
0:10:07 > 0:10:09'to get a free meal every day.'
0:10:09 > 0:10:12There was quite a poverty.
0:10:12 > 0:10:17At 12 o'clock every day, there was a bell that rang and...
0:10:18 > 0:10:21..certain children rose and just went out.
0:10:21 > 0:10:24That was the beginning of the school meals.
0:10:26 > 0:10:29'Milk has great body-building properties,
0:10:29 > 0:10:32'and the daily issue in the schoolroom helps to balance any
0:10:32 > 0:10:35'irregularities in the child's normal diet.'
0:10:35 > 0:10:38When they brought your crate up into your classroom,
0:10:38 > 0:10:41and everybody just went and...
0:10:41 > 0:10:42When it came to interval time,
0:10:42 > 0:10:47you would collect your bottle of milk and your wee straw.
0:10:47 > 0:10:49My mother told me,
0:10:49 > 0:10:51the reason I was a foot taller than my father
0:10:51 > 0:10:52was because of school milk.
0:10:52 > 0:10:55'Medical examinations, like Scholastic ones,
0:10:55 > 0:10:57'are regular things in the life of every schoolchild.'
0:11:01 > 0:11:04All these things were regarded as a necessary part of education policy,
0:11:04 > 0:11:08because unless we could equalise the living conditions of pupils,
0:11:08 > 0:11:11then there would never be true equality of opportunity
0:11:11 > 0:11:12in the school system.
0:11:12 > 0:11:15There was one further issue of equality to be addressed in early
0:11:15 > 0:11:1820th-century education.
0:11:18 > 0:11:23STRUMMING GUITAR, CHILDREN SINGING
0:11:23 > 0:11:28An issue that still polarises opinion today.
0:11:28 > 0:11:31Separate and state-funded schools
0:11:31 > 0:11:34for the children of Roman Catholic parents.
0:11:34 > 0:11:38Like here, in Notre Dame School in Glasgow's West End.
0:11:38 > 0:11:40We are a state school.
0:11:40 > 0:11:43Glasgow City Council, they provided this school for us.
0:11:43 > 0:11:46But Catholic schools have always got that special link
0:11:46 > 0:11:49with their local parish. It is at the heart of everything that we do
0:11:49 > 0:11:53and that is the beauty of being in a school, a faith school.
0:11:55 > 0:11:58Not all of the children in the school are Catholic.
0:11:58 > 0:12:00Most are, but not all.
0:12:00 > 0:12:03But parents choose the school because they like the ethos
0:12:03 > 0:12:06of the school and they know that we promote Gospel values
0:12:06 > 0:12:09and they see that that is something that would be important
0:12:09 > 0:12:11to their children's upbringing.
0:12:11 > 0:12:13- ALL:- In the name of the Father
0:12:13 > 0:12:15and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
0:12:15 > 0:12:18THEY CONTINUE TO PRAY
0:12:19 > 0:12:25By 1918, there were 450,000 Catholics in Scotland.
0:12:25 > 0:12:29Their children had often felt unwelcome in the system provided
0:12:29 > 0:12:31by the Protestant Kirk.
0:12:31 > 0:12:34And despite paying taxes towards the new state system,
0:12:34 > 0:12:38Catholics deliberately exiled themselves from it
0:12:38 > 0:12:41and chose to attend their own separate schools.
0:12:44 > 0:12:48The children of Catholic families in the 1920s and earlier can,
0:12:48 > 0:12:51by and large, be thought of as the children of an immigrant group.
0:12:53 > 0:12:56Historically, there was no way
0:12:56 > 0:12:58the Catholic community in Scotland
0:12:58 > 0:13:01didn't deserve its own education system,
0:13:01 > 0:13:04because they were a people under siege.
0:13:04 > 0:13:06They were beleaguered, they were persecuted.
0:13:06 > 0:13:09I mean, in many ways, the Kirk was the kind of Ukip of the day.
0:13:09 > 0:13:13I mean, it opposed this Irish influx.
0:13:13 > 0:13:16They probably wouldn't have been tolerated in the local,
0:13:16 > 0:13:17so-called, public schools.
0:13:17 > 0:13:22So a distinctive Catholic elementary system continued until the early
0:13:22 > 0:13:251920s and that was supported
0:13:25 > 0:13:28by the Catholic people of the period
0:13:28 > 0:13:32through fundraising, etc. And, of course, at the same time,
0:13:32 > 0:13:34they had to pay the educational rate.
0:13:34 > 0:13:38It meant, despite that courageous stand,
0:13:38 > 0:13:39it meant that gradually,
0:13:39 > 0:13:43the standards in these schools were inferior.
0:13:43 > 0:13:48In 1918, a new education act offered Scotland's Catholics a fairer share
0:13:48 > 0:13:51of the country's resources.
0:13:51 > 0:13:56The 1918 Act gave extraordinary generous provision
0:13:56 > 0:13:58for the continuation of Catholic instruction in schools,
0:13:58 > 0:14:02and above all, to give the Catholic Church a veto
0:14:02 > 0:14:04on the appointment of schoolteachers.
0:14:04 > 0:14:06Nothing like it happened
0:14:06 > 0:14:09in any other Protestant country in Europe at the time.
0:14:09 > 0:14:12There was a lot of Protestant ill feeling
0:14:12 > 0:14:16towards a system of education which might have to provide
0:14:16 > 0:14:19on the rates for the education of Catholic children.
0:14:22 > 0:14:24You get not only murmurings,
0:14:24 > 0:14:27but protest from some extremist speakers
0:14:27 > 0:14:29about "Rome on the rates",
0:14:29 > 0:14:33and so, that is the reason why, down to this very day,
0:14:33 > 0:14:36at least in the view of many,
0:14:36 > 0:14:39the denominational educational system which,
0:14:39 > 0:14:40you could argue, should be lauded,
0:14:40 > 0:14:43because of the way the state responded to the needs of a poor
0:14:43 > 0:14:48and disadvantaged part of the community, is controversial.
0:14:48 > 0:14:51For some, the policy of separating children
0:14:51 > 0:14:56according to the religion of their parents was hard to take.
0:14:56 > 0:14:59I remember disliking very much the split,
0:14:59 > 0:15:03that I didn't see the girls from across the road
0:15:03 > 0:15:05any more that I'd played with when I was four.
0:15:05 > 0:15:10'These are Protestant children in their playground.'
0:15:10 > 0:15:11After we went to primary school,
0:15:11 > 0:15:14we never really played with each other again.
0:15:14 > 0:15:19'And here are the Catholic children in their playground.'
0:15:19 > 0:15:22Really awful. Incredibly divisive.
0:15:22 > 0:15:24And of course, our school wasn't a Protestant school,
0:15:24 > 0:15:28it was just a non-denominational school,
0:15:28 > 0:15:31but the non-denominational schools in central Lanarkshire
0:15:31 > 0:15:36were just called "the Proddie school" and everybody knew it.
0:15:36 > 0:15:39'Segregation at school, often until the end of their school days,
0:15:39 > 0:15:44'creates in young minds a feeling of separateness that remains for life.'
0:15:44 > 0:15:47And I do think they should really have tackled that,
0:15:47 > 0:15:52because I think sectarianism, that is what the legacy of it is.
0:15:52 > 0:15:57A lot came from being brought up in different schools
0:15:57 > 0:15:59and treating each other as enemies.
0:16:01 > 0:16:05# And Jesus said you must love one another... #
0:16:05 > 0:16:10They are often described by critics nowadays as being divisive,
0:16:10 > 0:16:14but in fact, the main social role which the Catholic schools played
0:16:14 > 0:16:18was to integrate Catholics into a common identity,
0:16:18 > 0:16:20a common education system, and the long-term effect of that
0:16:20 > 0:16:23is that there is no longer any difference
0:16:23 > 0:16:26in employment opportunities between children of Catholic backgrounds
0:16:26 > 0:16:29and children of non-Catholic backgrounds.
0:16:29 > 0:16:32But for the increasing number of parents
0:16:32 > 0:16:34with no religious affiliation,
0:16:34 > 0:16:38the division of Scotland's children remains controversial.
0:16:39 > 0:16:45Militant secularism is probably now more a threat to that system
0:16:45 > 0:16:49than Protestant sectarianism and bigotry,
0:16:49 > 0:16:51which is, in my view, slowly dying out.
0:16:51 > 0:16:54I think those that were against the system
0:16:54 > 0:16:57are crying or whistling in the wind.
0:16:57 > 0:17:00If the parents agreed to the process happening,
0:17:00 > 0:17:01that is not a problem.
0:17:01 > 0:17:04But if there was any attempt to impose a dissolution
0:17:04 > 0:17:07of those schools, then I think it would create outrage.
0:17:11 > 0:17:13While Scotland's schools have retained
0:17:13 > 0:17:15the religious divisions of 1918,
0:17:15 > 0:17:19their classrooms are often 21st-century.
0:17:21 > 0:17:25So you would go into your log-in, and I'll just put my log-in quickly.
0:17:25 > 0:17:27There I am, there. That's my avatar.
0:17:27 > 0:17:31And, in this top bit up here, you can choose your maths,
0:17:31 > 0:17:33your reading or your writing.
0:17:33 > 0:17:37But their parents and grandparents had no such freedoms
0:17:37 > 0:17:40and endured the strictest of environments.
0:17:43 > 0:17:46It is a story of ordinary children having to submit themselves
0:17:46 > 0:17:50from nine o'clock in the morning to four o'clock in the afternoon,
0:17:50 > 0:17:53day after day, to the kind of education
0:17:53 > 0:17:56which was possible under the economic circumstances
0:17:56 > 0:18:01of a mass provision, and that is regimentation, discipline.
0:18:03 > 0:18:06The desks were all in, kind of, serried rows,
0:18:06 > 0:18:11the teacher, kind of, marauded up and down, like on a stage.
0:18:11 > 0:18:13There was no nonsense tolerated.
0:18:13 > 0:18:17There was very little fun in the classroom.
0:18:17 > 0:18:20The teacher would write on the blackboard, two or three times,
0:18:20 > 0:18:25the same thing. "June is the month of roses," I remember that so much.
0:18:25 > 0:18:29And this was called cursive writing.
0:18:29 > 0:18:32CHILDREN RECITE LESSON
0:18:32 > 0:18:36There is a great poem by Alexander Scott,
0:18:36 > 0:18:39a series of little poems that he wrote,
0:18:39 > 0:18:42and his one on Scottish education just goes,
0:18:42 > 0:18:45"A telt ye. A telt ye."
0:18:45 > 0:18:48So, that was the ideal in Scottish education,
0:18:48 > 0:18:51the teacher telling you and you learning,
0:18:51 > 0:18:53and don't give any feedback.
0:18:53 > 0:18:58Tell me the names of six towns in the County of Midlothian.
0:18:58 > 0:19:04- ALL:- Edinburgh, Leith, Portobello, Musselburgh and Dalkeith...
0:19:04 > 0:19:06One of the non-glories
0:19:06 > 0:19:09of Scottish education, compared to others in Western Europe,
0:19:09 > 0:19:11is that it was very authoritarian.
0:19:15 > 0:19:17You weren't allowed to talk, no.
0:19:17 > 0:19:21You couldn't speak, not even to the person sitting beside you.
0:19:21 > 0:19:23It was complete silence.
0:19:23 > 0:19:27That was very strict, very strict.
0:19:27 > 0:19:29The least achieving pupils
0:19:29 > 0:19:32would sit right there under the teacher's desk.
0:19:32 > 0:19:34Which I think taught children
0:19:34 > 0:19:37that the way they should see themselves is
0:19:37 > 0:19:40as beings to be licked into shape and to be regimented,
0:19:40 > 0:19:43and of course, not all children took to that at all.
0:19:43 > 0:19:46I was bored. And I think a lot of the kids were.
0:19:46 > 0:19:48So my memories of Scottish education
0:19:48 > 0:19:53are not actually very happy or stimulated.
0:19:53 > 0:19:57It puzzles me, because I know that, at the time I was a wee boy,
0:19:57 > 0:20:01Scotland was supposedly famed for its education,
0:20:01 > 0:20:06so in a sense, school was something you had to get through.
0:20:06 > 0:20:08There is a practical reason, of course.
0:20:08 > 0:20:12I mean, how else can you teach and keep control
0:20:12 > 0:20:15over as many as 60 children without having,
0:20:15 > 0:20:17I think, a fairly strict regime?
0:20:17 > 0:20:21Because the teacher, of course, had the power of summary execution,
0:20:21 > 0:20:24by reason of the tawse.
0:20:24 > 0:20:30The stiflingly strict atmosphere in Scotland's schools was enforced
0:20:30 > 0:20:33by the use of a thick leather whip.
0:20:33 > 0:20:38Known as the tawse, it left its mark on generations of pupils.
0:20:38 > 0:20:41I can remember being afraid to go to school.
0:20:41 > 0:20:43You would be called out to the front,
0:20:43 > 0:20:45with your two hands together like this.
0:20:45 > 0:20:49Cross your hands. Cross your hands. Cross your hands.
0:20:49 > 0:20:50And it was terrifying.
0:20:50 > 0:20:56I just think it is absolutely appalling to think that we would
0:20:56 > 0:20:59hit children with a belt like this.
0:20:59 > 0:21:04It is just incredible to think there was actually a production line
0:21:04 > 0:21:07producing these, so that teachers would always have one.
0:21:07 > 0:21:11For years, these leather straps were seen as an essential part
0:21:11 > 0:21:14of the teacher's trade.
0:21:14 > 0:21:16And near the small town of Lochgelly,
0:21:16 > 0:21:19the leather works that supplied more than any other
0:21:19 > 0:21:21is still operational today.
0:21:21 > 0:21:23I'm Margaret Dick, daughter of John Dick
0:21:23 > 0:21:25and granddaughter of George Dick,
0:21:25 > 0:21:30who are well known for the Lochgelly tawse, for manufacturing it.
0:21:30 > 0:21:34It's just part of the history of my family
0:21:34 > 0:21:38and, like it or lump it, I'm stuck with that.
0:21:39 > 0:21:41There you are.
0:21:42 > 0:21:44That's my Lochgelly.
0:21:47 > 0:21:49I used that.
0:21:49 > 0:21:50I did use it.
0:21:52 > 0:21:56Just mark the shape of it...
0:21:56 > 0:22:01The threat of physical violence was present in schools,
0:22:01 > 0:22:04but then it was present in families, it was present in communities,
0:22:04 > 0:22:06it was present through the church.
0:22:06 > 0:22:08The schools simply saw themselves as reproducing that,
0:22:08 > 0:22:12that ethics were to be instilled partly by the threat of violence.
0:22:15 > 0:22:18The culture of the society completely accepted this.
0:22:18 > 0:22:20The parents were all for it.
0:22:20 > 0:22:23If I went home and said I was getting the strap,
0:22:23 > 0:22:27my mum would want to know why.
0:22:27 > 0:22:30And that was worse!
0:22:30 > 0:22:32That was worse than the teacher.
0:22:32 > 0:22:37We are edging it now, which is taking the sharp edge off,
0:22:37 > 0:22:41because obviously, we want to hurt the hand with the tawse,
0:22:41 > 0:22:44but we don't want to damage it, make it bleed.
0:22:44 > 0:22:47Corporal punishment was actually used
0:22:47 > 0:22:49not only for reasons of disciplining,
0:22:49 > 0:22:51but also for academic reasons.
0:22:51 > 0:22:53There is plenty of evidence
0:22:53 > 0:22:55that if you failed to gain a certain mark,
0:22:55 > 0:22:59then the belt would be produced.
0:22:59 > 0:23:04Some teachers would belt people that had more than three spellings wrong,
0:23:04 > 0:23:09so, you know, the idea of how dyslexic kids would have got on
0:23:09 > 0:23:10in those days, they must have ended up
0:23:10 > 0:23:13with hatred of education, I would think.
0:23:13 > 0:23:15For most, an appointment with the Lochgelly tawse
0:23:15 > 0:23:18meant a day of discomfort.
0:23:18 > 0:23:22But for others, there could be far more serious consequences.
0:23:22 > 0:23:26I got belted one day for spelling Canada with a small C,
0:23:26 > 0:23:30and it led to a, kind of, mini breakdown,
0:23:30 > 0:23:34it was almost like a mental breakdown.
0:23:34 > 0:23:38The consequence of which was, I became almost...
0:23:39 > 0:23:41Well, withdrawn would be one way to put it.
0:23:41 > 0:23:44I missed a couple of years of school.
0:23:47 > 0:23:50And that is a Lochgelly tawse.
0:23:55 > 0:23:58Another consequence of the expansion of education was an increase
0:23:58 > 0:24:01in demand for secondary schools.
0:24:02 > 0:24:06Nowadays, it is taken for granted that pupils move from primary
0:24:06 > 0:24:10to a senior school, but before the turn of the century,
0:24:10 > 0:24:15secondary education was the preserve of the few, not the many.
0:24:15 > 0:24:18Previously, secondary schooling was available only in some cities
0:24:18 > 0:24:22and only for quite well-off, middle-class children.
0:24:22 > 0:24:24That was felt to be unfair, on the grounds that it was available
0:24:24 > 0:24:26only to people who were rich.
0:24:26 > 0:24:30And as the working classes and the generality of
0:24:30 > 0:24:32the population became more and more aspirational,
0:24:32 > 0:24:35the education system had to respond to that.
0:24:37 > 0:24:40But when secondary schools were provided for Scotland's children,
0:24:40 > 0:24:42the assumption was that it wasn't a right,
0:24:42 > 0:24:45but a privilege, for the clever few.
0:24:47 > 0:24:49The governing assumption,
0:24:49 > 0:24:53both politically and among educational administrators,
0:24:53 > 0:24:57was that only a relatively small proportion of
0:24:57 > 0:25:00the population had the ability to go on to what was called, at that time,
0:25:00 > 0:25:02higher grade schools.
0:25:02 > 0:25:05There was a, kind of, almost anthropological belief
0:25:05 > 0:25:09that talent was rationed out in any society.
0:25:09 > 0:25:13By the 1930s, a two-tier system
0:25:13 > 0:25:18of junior and senior secondary schools was well established.
0:25:18 > 0:25:20A qualifying exam would allocate pupils,
0:25:20 > 0:25:23according to academic merit.
0:25:23 > 0:25:27A pass or a fail, deciding the fate for generations of Scots.
0:25:27 > 0:25:30'Here are some of the questions that now decide
0:25:30 > 0:25:32'the Scottish child's immediate future.
0:25:32 > 0:25:35'Could you answer them correctly?'
0:25:35 > 0:25:38Why do steel warships float?
0:25:38 > 0:25:42Because steel is lighter than water?
0:25:42 > 0:25:45Because steel is heavier than water?
0:25:45 > 0:25:49Because they are full of air?
0:25:49 > 0:25:50'On the basis of these marks,
0:25:50 > 0:25:53'the pupil goes to an appropriate secondary course.'
0:25:53 > 0:25:56As one educational historian put it,
0:25:56 > 0:26:00that system was the sieving of the working class.
0:26:00 > 0:26:04Obviously, the 11 Plus favoured articulate kids
0:26:04 > 0:26:08who came from articulate, well-educated families.
0:26:08 > 0:26:10They were virtually bound to, kind of, walk in.
0:26:10 > 0:26:12And the rest were left
0:26:12 > 0:26:15as the rude mechanicals, as it were!
0:26:15 > 0:26:17Everybody was sort of pigeonholed.
0:26:17 > 0:26:20I mean, the lower classes weren't allowed to take a language.
0:26:20 > 0:26:22Things like that.
0:26:22 > 0:26:25CHILD READS IN FRENCH
0:26:25 > 0:26:30So, people's entire life course was determined by this qualifying exam,
0:26:30 > 0:26:35taken at round about the age of 11 or 12.
0:26:35 > 0:26:36Nowadays, you've got colleges
0:26:36 > 0:26:38where you can go and pick up Highers and things,
0:26:38 > 0:26:42but then, it more or less condemned you to a certain type
0:26:42 > 0:26:44of educational oblivion.
0:26:47 > 0:26:49One of the things we have learned, I think,
0:26:49 > 0:26:52in educational research and policy over the last 100 years
0:26:52 > 0:26:57is that people's rate of maturing varies enormously.
0:26:57 > 0:27:01That if you decide that there is a fixed point in somebody's life
0:27:01 > 0:27:03in which their destiny is determined,
0:27:03 > 0:27:06then you're going to be wrong.
0:27:08 > 0:27:12I would condemn Scottish education
0:27:12 > 0:27:16for imbuing kids with a real sense of failure.
0:27:17 > 0:27:20One of the reasons why there is very little opposition to
0:27:20 > 0:27:24the comprehensive system in Scotland, compared with England,
0:27:24 > 0:27:27where it is still highly controversial,
0:27:27 > 0:27:31is because of that knowledge of what the 11 Plus system did to a couple
0:27:31 > 0:27:35of generations of children, and the parents of the current generation,
0:27:35 > 0:27:39and the grandparents of the current generation, remember that.
0:27:42 > 0:27:45A further weakness in Scottish education was the question of
0:27:45 > 0:27:48just how Scottish it actually was.
0:27:48 > 0:27:52That no amount of country dancing would atone for the absence
0:27:52 > 0:27:56of the country's own literature and history.
0:27:56 > 0:27:58I think the paradox is that,
0:27:58 > 0:28:01although Scottish education was said to be Scottish,
0:28:01 > 0:28:06it was actually working to a British Imperial model.
0:28:06 > 0:28:10If you are wanting an education system which gives pupils the chance
0:28:10 > 0:28:16to rise to the top, and that top meant a British top,
0:28:16 > 0:28:21you had to think to emphasise a non-Scottish curriculum.
0:28:21 > 0:28:24The priority was always seen as helping children to get on
0:28:24 > 0:28:28within a British context.
0:28:28 > 0:28:30And the way to get on in the high noon of union,
0:28:30 > 0:28:34the high noon of unionism, was through the British route.
0:28:34 > 0:28:37If you want to find out about Scottish history,
0:28:37 > 0:28:39you do it in your own free time, your private time,
0:28:39 > 0:28:42but it is not seen to be fit and appropriate
0:28:42 > 0:28:44for systematic educational purposes.
0:28:44 > 0:28:46The claim is often made that the Scottish curriculum lacks
0:28:46 > 0:28:49Scottish content, in the sense of paying attention
0:28:49 > 0:28:50to explicitly Scottish topics.
0:28:50 > 0:28:52Actually, that is a bit of a misrepresentation.
0:28:52 > 0:28:57'Here, the ground is being prepared for a lesson on Scottish history.'
0:28:57 > 0:28:58But they were not the kinds of content
0:28:58 > 0:29:01that we regard as, perhaps, acceptable today.
0:29:01 > 0:29:05They tended to be quite conservative elements of Scottish culture.
0:29:05 > 0:29:07- RADIO:- 'This is the Scottish Home Service for schools.
0:29:07 > 0:29:10'Stories from Scottish history.
0:29:10 > 0:29:13'Last week, we heard how Mary Queen of Scots
0:29:13 > 0:29:16'was taken prisoner by her nobles...'
0:29:16 > 0:29:20What we have in this period is the hybrid identity of Scottishness
0:29:20 > 0:29:24and Britishness, but in terms of formal education,
0:29:24 > 0:29:26it was overwhelmingly British.
0:29:26 > 0:29:30One of the great tensions is between the culture of the home
0:29:30 > 0:29:33and the immediate community and the type of standardised,
0:29:33 > 0:29:35centralised culture of the school system,
0:29:35 > 0:29:36and often at the centre of that,
0:29:36 > 0:29:38particularly in Scotland, is language.
0:29:38 > 0:29:43One of the ironies of an Ayrshire education in the 1950s
0:29:43 > 0:29:45was that you got a prize one day of the year
0:29:45 > 0:29:47for reciting Rabbie Burns' poetry,
0:29:47 > 0:29:51and then you were likely to get the belt the other 364 days
0:29:51 > 0:29:53for speaking his language.
0:29:53 > 0:29:55So, very little status was given
0:29:55 > 0:29:59to the vernacular that the majority brought to the classroom.
0:29:59 > 0:30:02I remember one guy, an inspector came to the school
0:30:02 > 0:30:05and he was dead keen to answer a question.
0:30:05 > 0:30:07He stuck up his hand, the teacher...
0:30:07 > 0:30:08He said, "I don't ken."
0:30:08 > 0:30:12When the inspector left, he got the belt.
0:30:12 > 0:30:14You don't say "ken" to the inspector.
0:30:14 > 0:30:19He got belted for it. And he was being enthusiastic, you know.
0:30:19 > 0:30:24You learned from a very early age that to speak Scots
0:30:24 > 0:30:26was almost like sticking your tongue out at the teacher,
0:30:26 > 0:30:29it was giving cheek, and you could be belted for it.
0:30:29 > 0:30:33Some people switched off, I think, from education because of that,
0:30:33 > 0:30:36because their culture was given no status whatsoever.
0:30:38 > 0:30:40Attitudes are slowly changing
0:30:40 > 0:30:42on the use of the Scots language in the classroom.
0:30:42 > 0:30:44Right, folks.
0:30:44 > 0:30:48Today we're going to have a look at Gary Robertson's Gangs Of Dundee.
0:30:48 > 0:30:50Here at Morgan Academy in Dundee,
0:30:50 > 0:30:53the English Department has placed the Scots language
0:30:53 > 0:30:56at the centre of their teaching.
0:30:56 > 0:31:00HE READS IN SCOTS
0:31:00 > 0:31:02So I've been in primary schools
0:31:02 > 0:31:04where the class teacher will confidently say,
0:31:04 > 0:31:07"I've nae Scots speakers," because they don't speak Scots in front
0:31:07 > 0:31:10of the teacher, but when you actually speak to the bairns,
0:31:10 > 0:31:12they are Scots speakers, they just have hidden that.
0:31:12 > 0:31:17And that has almost been a learned response over generations.
0:31:17 > 0:31:20"Scots isn't right in the classroom, so we don't use it."
0:31:20 > 0:31:24HE READS IN SCOTS
0:31:24 > 0:31:29It's about time we realised we are not a monolingual nation, really.
0:31:29 > 0:31:31There's very, very few folk that just have English.
0:31:31 > 0:31:33Folk, at least, have an understanding of Scots.
0:31:33 > 0:31:36Like, so, "affy" means really.
0:31:36 > 0:31:38Right? "Are we really daft?"
0:31:38 > 0:31:41But "ower" is more like "too", so what do you think?
0:31:41 > 0:31:44The idea that you had to be a monolingual English speaker,
0:31:44 > 0:31:48educationally, we now know that that was a wrong attitude,
0:31:48 > 0:31:51but it was ingrained in a lot of Scottish teachers
0:31:51 > 0:31:57that for the children to get on, they would have to be less Scottish.
0:31:57 > 0:32:02If you are in Scotland, sure, you should learn Scottish stuff.
0:32:06 > 0:32:08The campaign to normalise the use of the Scots language
0:32:08 > 0:32:12is in its infancy compared with Gaelic.
0:32:12 > 0:32:14Here in Tiree, the local school now provides
0:32:14 > 0:32:16for both English and Gaelic speaking pupils
0:32:16 > 0:32:19in their own preferred language.
0:32:19 > 0:32:22SHE SPEAKS GAELIC
0:32:26 > 0:32:27In days gone by,
0:32:27 > 0:32:30Scotland's remotest island communities
0:32:30 > 0:32:31felt themselves being pulled apart
0:32:31 > 0:32:36by the competing cultural forces in their schools.
0:32:36 > 0:32:38I was brought up here
0:32:38 > 0:32:41and I was constantly hearing stories in Gaelic,
0:32:41 > 0:32:45and songs, rhymes, recitations.
0:32:45 > 0:32:49In the community too, it was Gaelic that was spoken.
0:32:51 > 0:32:54Donald Meek was raised in Tiree in the 1950s,
0:32:54 > 0:32:57a time when, despite the majority of pupils here
0:32:57 > 0:32:59speaking their native tongue,
0:32:59 > 0:33:02their schooling was to be conducted in the foreign language
0:33:02 > 0:33:04that was English.
0:33:04 > 0:33:08I remember my first day at school only too well.
0:33:08 > 0:33:12I can remember being left there by my mother
0:33:12 > 0:33:16and going into this large classroom.
0:33:16 > 0:33:20We had no Gaelic teaching whatsoever.
0:33:20 > 0:33:22It was a completely alien environment.
0:33:24 > 0:33:26'Among other things, they learn English,
0:33:26 > 0:33:29'which to them, is a foreign language.'
0:33:29 > 0:33:32- ALL RECITE:- As if her song could have no ending,
0:33:32 > 0:33:35I saw her singing at her work...
0:33:35 > 0:33:41It was like being in a little island of English in an ocean of Gaelic.
0:33:41 > 0:33:45One of the things that you learn pretty quickly when you are trying
0:33:45 > 0:33:50to learn English was you were a product for export.
0:33:50 > 0:33:53The whole education system was particularly geared to make
0:33:53 > 0:33:56the brightest, as the education system saw it,
0:33:56 > 0:34:00move away from the island.
0:34:00 > 0:34:02'But there's not half the number of children here now
0:34:02 > 0:34:05'that there were when we were at school.
0:34:05 > 0:34:07'That is because so many of our folks
0:34:07 > 0:34:10'have left the crofts and gone away to the towns.'
0:34:12 > 0:34:15For Donald, the language and culture of his birth was more important
0:34:15 > 0:34:18than climbing the academic ladder.
0:34:18 > 0:34:21I very well remember being prepared
0:34:21 > 0:34:26to sit an examination which would have taken me,
0:34:26 > 0:34:29if I had been successful, from Tiree to Oban,
0:34:29 > 0:34:32to begin secondary schooling.
0:34:32 > 0:34:36But I deliberately failed it.
0:34:36 > 0:34:41I did not want to sign my own death warrant
0:34:41 > 0:34:45by performing well in the examination.
0:34:45 > 0:34:47I knew what was going to happen,
0:34:47 > 0:34:50so I took avoiding action
0:34:50 > 0:34:55and I stayed here in Tiree until the age of 16,
0:34:55 > 0:34:58and during those formative years of my early teens,
0:34:58 > 0:35:00I learned an immense amount
0:35:00 > 0:35:05about life on this croft and in the island.
0:35:07 > 0:35:11TEACHER SPEAKS GAELIC
0:35:11 > 0:35:13The new education that Gaelic children get,
0:35:13 > 0:35:16and particularly children with no Gaelic,
0:35:16 > 0:35:18were being taught to learn Gaelic.
0:35:18 > 0:35:21THEY SPEAK GAELIC
0:35:21 > 0:35:26I see all the missing components in my own education.
0:35:26 > 0:35:32Now, the schools are like little islands of Gaelic
0:35:32 > 0:35:35in oceans of English.
0:35:35 > 0:35:41It's as if the whole thing has completely reversed itself.
0:35:42 > 0:35:44It's another world.
0:35:44 > 0:35:46But it's a good world.
0:35:46 > 0:35:48BELL RINGS
0:35:50 > 0:35:54From the tiniest islands to the biggest cities,
0:35:54 > 0:35:56Scottish schools had been notorious
0:35:56 > 0:36:00for their harsh, no-nonsense teaching.
0:36:00 > 0:36:03But in the 1950s, that began to change,
0:36:03 > 0:36:07when the old world of discipline and repetition was rebuilt
0:36:07 > 0:36:10into a world of inclusion and imagination.
0:36:11 > 0:36:14There was an international movement, in which Scotland was actually
0:36:14 > 0:36:17one of the leading players.
0:36:17 > 0:36:19It was what was called the New Education Movement,
0:36:19 > 0:36:23which was to create a more child-centred kind of learning.
0:36:23 > 0:36:25'Teaching methods in all our schools
0:36:25 > 0:36:29'have changed as much as architecture and equipment.
0:36:29 > 0:36:32'Reading and writing come more easily, for example,
0:36:32 > 0:36:35'when combined with Plasticine and play.'
0:36:35 > 0:36:37The child was taken to be the focal point of education.
0:36:37 > 0:36:40It is difficult for us to imagine a different system now,
0:36:40 > 0:36:43because we've become so imbued with the ideas of child-centredness.
0:36:43 > 0:36:46'Nowadays, there is a bright, sunshiny touch
0:36:46 > 0:36:49'to primary schools and schooling.'
0:36:49 > 0:36:52Along with this new approach to teaching,
0:36:52 > 0:36:57the long division of the qualifying test finally came to an end.
0:36:59 > 0:37:03Now, every child, regardless of perceived ability,
0:37:03 > 0:37:06would be taught under the same roof.
0:37:06 > 0:37:09A comprehensive education was to be the new way forward.
0:37:09 > 0:37:12The scale of transformation was so rapid,
0:37:12 > 0:37:14and it is amazing, the resilience of the system,
0:37:14 > 0:37:16that it managed to cope with it.
0:37:16 > 0:37:20I think the major reason for that was there was an awareness,
0:37:20 > 0:37:23especially among educational administrators and many
0:37:23 > 0:37:27enlightened teachers, that the old system wasn't simply working.
0:37:27 > 0:37:29So, the new system was welcomed.
0:37:29 > 0:37:33'Knightswood Secondary School, one of the many big new schools.
0:37:33 > 0:37:35'And in its size, design and layout
0:37:35 > 0:37:38'can be seen the shape of things to come.'
0:37:38 > 0:37:41So, you have the notion of the comprehensive school
0:37:41 > 0:37:42that everybody went to.
0:37:42 > 0:37:47And if there were to be differences, they were within the one school.
0:37:50 > 0:37:53Bill Sweeney is a former pupil of Knightswood Secondary.
0:37:53 > 0:37:58He started in 1961, just three years after it opened
0:37:58 > 0:38:00at the dawn of the comprehensive age.
0:38:00 > 0:38:04Brought up in a working-class household in nearby Drumchapel,
0:38:04 > 0:38:07Bill's time here helped him on his way to become
0:38:07 > 0:38:10a renowned composer and professor of music.
0:38:10 > 0:38:15HE PLAYS THE CLARINET
0:38:17 > 0:38:22'The music department in Knightswood was particularly strong.
0:38:25 > 0:38:29'It was really exciting, actually, to come here.
0:38:29 > 0:38:33'You felt as if you were going to something really sort of quite big
0:38:33 > 0:38:36'and certainly modern, you know.'
0:38:38 > 0:38:42It is very recognisably the same place, with the same...
0:38:42 > 0:38:44The original buildings.
0:38:44 > 0:38:48Every so often, I definitely do get a little bit of the 1960s
0:38:48 > 0:38:51coming jabbing back at me.
0:38:51 > 0:38:54A little bit uncanny at times.
0:38:57 > 0:39:00My parents had to leave school at 14,
0:39:00 > 0:39:03both very intelligent people,
0:39:03 > 0:39:07well-read people, who just weren't able to access education,
0:39:07 > 0:39:09so they were absolutely all for it,
0:39:09 > 0:39:12and certainly that ideal of everyone should be educated,
0:39:12 > 0:39:15you should get the best out of everybody,
0:39:15 > 0:39:17was still something that was built into the school
0:39:17 > 0:39:19from when it was opened,
0:39:19 > 0:39:22that it was for everybody and not just to sort out
0:39:22 > 0:39:24the ones that could from the ones that couldn't.
0:39:26 > 0:39:31The comprehensive ideal, perhaps you could regard as the final fulfilment
0:39:31 > 0:39:36of the democratic ideal that was laid down in the 16th century.
0:39:36 > 0:39:40It took some centuries to work out, but when you consider the economic
0:39:40 > 0:39:45and democratic and social developments that had to take place,
0:39:45 > 0:39:47maybe that is not surprising.
0:39:47 > 0:39:51By their very nature, comprehensive schools are geared
0:39:51 > 0:39:54to provide a better standard for the majority.
0:39:54 > 0:39:58But can such a system also encourage academic excellence
0:39:58 > 0:40:00for the top achievers?
0:40:00 > 0:40:01We are probably doing less well now
0:40:01 > 0:40:04for the most able students than we were in the past.
0:40:04 > 0:40:06The most able students are not stretched as far as they were
0:40:06 > 0:40:09in the past and they don't get the same acquaintance
0:40:09 > 0:40:12with inherited culture of the greatest kind
0:40:12 > 0:40:14that they did in the more elite system of the past.
0:40:15 > 0:40:16But for some children,
0:40:16 > 0:40:22there has long been another option to state-funded education.
0:40:22 > 0:40:24We have in Scotland, from the 19th century,
0:40:24 > 0:40:25a set of endowed schools,
0:40:25 > 0:40:28that is schools where some wealthy benefactor had left some money
0:40:28 > 0:40:30to help establish a school.
0:40:30 > 0:40:33Often that benefactor has their name embodied in the name of the school,
0:40:33 > 0:40:37such as James Gillespie or George Heriot.
0:40:39 > 0:40:42So, private schools were set up in Scotland,
0:40:42 > 0:40:45which were based on English public schools -
0:40:45 > 0:40:47we call them private schools -
0:40:47 > 0:40:51so that Scottish children from middle-class backgrounds
0:40:51 > 0:40:54would be able to make it in the British Empire.
0:40:54 > 0:40:59There continued to be an elite system of independent schools
0:40:59 > 0:41:01in Scotland, where fees are charged to parents,
0:41:01 > 0:41:05unlike in the state system, and where there is a selection test.
0:41:07 > 0:41:12Today, just over 4% of children in Scotland attend fee-paying schools,
0:41:12 > 0:41:16and well under a quarter of them go to boarding schools,
0:41:16 > 0:41:21a system which traditionally starts at the age of eight.
0:41:21 > 0:41:25- Hello, I'm Josh. - I'm Terry.- I'm Cora.
0:41:25 > 0:41:27We're going to show you around Ardvreck School today.
0:41:27 > 0:41:32Built in 1883, this is Ardvreck Prep School in Perthshire.
0:41:35 > 0:41:38Some of our children leave home to come to board with us,
0:41:38 > 0:41:42so we have to create a home from home, when they are quite young.
0:41:42 > 0:41:46So, school becomes a way of life.
0:41:47 > 0:41:49- This is our bedroom. - This is our dorm.
0:41:49 > 0:41:51This is my bed space.
0:41:51 > 0:41:55And my bed. You get the higher up beds,
0:41:55 > 0:41:58you get three drawers and a big compartment underneath
0:41:58 > 0:41:59to keep your stuff in.
0:41:59 > 0:42:01My bed space.
0:42:01 > 0:42:04I stay here on Tuesday and Wednesday nights.
0:42:04 > 0:42:07It feels a bit weird that you are not seeing your family as much,
0:42:07 > 0:42:09and you don't go home and have supper with them.
0:42:09 > 0:42:12Then, it is, kind of, basically the same,
0:42:12 > 0:42:13just your parents up there
0:42:13 > 0:42:16and you just have your friends the whole time.
0:42:18 > 0:42:20This is the ICT room.
0:42:20 > 0:42:24We have a six-day week. We work Saturdays.
0:42:24 > 0:42:26We have a longer school day.
0:42:26 > 0:42:28So, this is the senior French room.
0:42:28 > 0:42:31Parents have high expectations for the children,
0:42:31 > 0:42:34we have a high expectations of our children.
0:42:34 > 0:42:37Because people have paid for us to be here,
0:42:37 > 0:42:39you really feel as if you've got to work hard in lessons.
0:42:39 > 0:42:42For a full boarding place at Ardvreck School,
0:42:42 > 0:42:46the fees are about £6,000 per term.
0:42:46 > 0:42:47Three terms per year.
0:42:47 > 0:42:50It's what it costs to educate a child.
0:42:50 > 0:42:54We have just chosen to do it without involving the state.
0:42:54 > 0:42:57Some parents can clearly afford it.
0:42:57 > 0:42:59Other parents really struggle,
0:42:59 > 0:43:01they make huge sacrifices in their own lives,
0:43:01 > 0:43:05in order for their children to attain the education they have here.
0:43:05 > 0:43:09For those who can afford it, part of the appeal of Ardvreck
0:43:09 > 0:43:12is its more traditional curriculum, which preserves subjects
0:43:12 > 0:43:15which used to be commonplace in the Scots classroom.
0:43:15 > 0:43:17We do have Latin.
0:43:17 > 0:43:21It may be a surprise to some people to see Latin still on a curriculum,
0:43:21 > 0:43:24but we also have classical literature and translation,
0:43:24 > 0:43:25classical studies...
0:43:28 > 0:43:30For the children themselves,
0:43:30 > 0:43:33it is the environment and freedom Ardvreck offers
0:43:33 > 0:43:36that is the primary attraction.
0:43:39 > 0:43:41When I was younger, I went to school in London,
0:43:41 > 0:43:43a little primary school.
0:43:43 > 0:43:46But then you come here and you just see the difference between,
0:43:46 > 0:43:51like, a little garden and, like, a massive, 42-acre playground.
0:43:51 > 0:43:55There is space for everything that you want to do,
0:43:55 > 0:43:58like, there's a playground, there's tennis, there's cricket.
0:43:58 > 0:44:01I know that we are very privileged
0:44:01 > 0:44:07in order to have what we have to offer to our children.
0:44:07 > 0:44:10I don't take that privilege lightly.
0:44:10 > 0:44:11We are blessed.
0:44:13 > 0:44:16This is a business, we have to run it as a business,
0:44:16 > 0:44:19but it is a business where children are offered
0:44:19 > 0:44:21the best opportunities in life.
0:44:23 > 0:44:25For the majority of children,
0:44:25 > 0:44:29the private school experience simply isn't on the cards.
0:44:29 > 0:44:33They rely on the state system, which, by the 1980s,
0:44:33 > 0:44:36had been thoroughly modernised.
0:44:36 > 0:44:41But there remained one painful reminder of a draconian past.
0:44:43 > 0:44:49I would say that the strap is a salutary and effective means
0:44:49 > 0:44:52of maintaining discipline in a school,
0:44:52 > 0:44:55and sparing use of it is perfectly right and proper.
0:44:55 > 0:45:01Belting children, some as young as five, was still commonplace
0:45:01 > 0:45:06and society's support for these beatings still appeared strong.
0:45:06 > 0:45:09'In Edinburgh, a few years ago, they tried to keep a record
0:45:09 > 0:45:12'of how many times the strap was used in a term.
0:45:12 > 0:45:17'They got to 10,000 and, after that, they stopped counting.'
0:45:17 > 0:45:19It didn't do me any harm.
0:45:19 > 0:45:23As a matter of fact, it made me respect the teachers more.
0:45:23 > 0:45:27With all due respect to the teachers, I think, most of the time,
0:45:27 > 0:45:29I don't deserve it.
0:45:29 > 0:45:31You got belted today, didn't you?
0:45:31 > 0:45:37For going to the toilets and not asking the teacher if I could go.
0:45:37 > 0:45:39We were in the hall, getting a free period.
0:45:39 > 0:45:42Do you think it is fair to get belted for that?
0:45:42 > 0:45:44No, because you might be bursting.
0:45:44 > 0:45:48But Scottish mother Grace Campbell was fed up
0:45:48 > 0:45:50with the state-sanctioned violence.
0:45:50 > 0:45:53She brought a case against the UK authorities
0:45:53 > 0:45:55to the European Court of Human Rights,
0:45:55 > 0:46:00and the thrashing of pupils began to be challenged.
0:46:00 > 0:46:02My mum asked for an assurance from
0:46:02 > 0:46:04the local education authority
0:46:04 > 0:46:07at Strathclyde Region that my brother and myself
0:46:07 > 0:46:11would not be belted at school. And they couldn't give that assurance.
0:46:11 > 0:46:13They said that the law prevented it
0:46:13 > 0:46:17and, so, it then became a question of, how do you change the law?
0:46:18 > 0:46:21- NEWSREADER:- 'The court did rule that beating children
0:46:21 > 0:46:23'against their parents' wishes
0:46:23 > 0:46:25'violated the Human Rights Convention.'
0:46:25 > 0:46:27I'm very pleased with the outcome of the case
0:46:27 > 0:46:31and I feel that a speedy implementing of the findings
0:46:31 > 0:46:34will improve the educational environment
0:46:34 > 0:46:36for both teachers and pupils.
0:46:38 > 0:46:40In 1982, Grace Campbell won her case
0:46:40 > 0:46:45and schools across Scotland would now have to enforce discipline
0:46:45 > 0:46:47without whipping children.
0:46:47 > 0:46:49- WHISTLE BLOWS - In twos!
0:46:49 > 0:46:52But not everyone was behind the ban.
0:46:52 > 0:46:57The old guard, if you like, were very keen on keeping what they had,
0:46:57 > 0:47:00and couldn't understand why anyone would want to get rid of it.
0:47:00 > 0:47:03I would imagine the public here in Scotland would view the abolition,
0:47:03 > 0:47:08at a stroke type of abolition, with some concern.
0:47:08 > 0:47:13There was hate mail. We had graffiti daubed on the front door.
0:47:13 > 0:47:16We had a half brick thrown at the window.
0:47:16 > 0:47:18We were shouted at in the street.
0:47:18 > 0:47:21It was kind of like... It was almost like we were undermining
0:47:21 > 0:47:25social structures by just asking not to be belted at school.
0:47:25 > 0:47:28Grace Campbell's victory had ensured the end of legalised violence
0:47:28 > 0:47:33in schools, not only in Scotland but right across the UK.
0:47:33 > 0:47:36Very, very proud of my mum and dad.
0:47:36 > 0:47:39And particularly now, when you think about, you know,
0:47:39 > 0:47:42if we speak to children now, they've got no idea, and are horrified.
0:47:45 > 0:47:50I think it's to stretch out and bring things forward.
0:47:50 > 0:47:52It's like a snake's mouth.
0:47:53 > 0:47:57- Is it...- A chocolate bar!
0:47:57 > 0:48:01You hold a whip like the cowboys, when they go like...
0:48:01 > 0:48:03"Go, horsey, go!"
0:48:03 > 0:48:06- That's a whip.- No, it isn't.
0:48:06 > 0:48:08They whack people with it.
0:48:08 > 0:48:09No, they don't.
0:48:09 > 0:48:14One day, my mum got hit with the belt, in olden times.
0:48:14 > 0:48:19It's nice to see that, as far as my own kids are concerned,
0:48:19 > 0:48:20they will never be hit at school,
0:48:20 > 0:48:23and that, I think, my mum would be really happy about,
0:48:23 > 0:48:25if she was still here.
0:48:25 > 0:48:29Scottish education had long been a political football,
0:48:29 > 0:48:34never more so than in the 1980s, when a former UK Education Secretary
0:48:34 > 0:48:37declared war on Scottish teachers and their unions.
0:48:37 > 0:48:40- NEWSREADER: - 'Mrs Thatcher made it clear
0:48:40 > 0:48:41'that, in her list of priorities,
0:48:41 > 0:48:44'replacing out-of-date primary schools came before
0:48:44 > 0:48:46'giving free milk to 7 to 11-year-olds.'
0:48:46 > 0:48:50Most parents can afford to provide their own children
0:48:50 > 0:48:53with milk, or to give them money to buy milk.
0:48:53 > 0:48:57They can't, in fact, provide the school buildings. That's my job.
0:48:58 > 0:49:02Margaret Thatcher arrived at Number Ten in 1979.
0:49:02 > 0:49:04Almost immediately,
0:49:04 > 0:49:07her Conservative philosophies of parental choice were applied
0:49:07 > 0:49:10to Scotland's schools.
0:49:10 > 0:49:13Good afternoon, Prime Minister.
0:49:13 > 0:49:15Part of the Thatcher years, of course,
0:49:15 > 0:49:19and the reason why they had such a decisive effect on the development
0:49:19 > 0:49:24of Scottish politics, was because we had not seen such interventionism
0:49:24 > 0:49:27at all levels, from the economy through to education,
0:49:27 > 0:49:32since the aftermath of the Jacobite rebellion in the 1740s.
0:49:32 > 0:49:34As long ago as that.
0:49:35 > 0:49:37There were big challenges.
0:49:37 > 0:49:40The performance amongst poorer communities
0:49:40 > 0:49:43and on the worst housing estates was pretty appalling.
0:49:43 > 0:49:44And everybody went round saying,
0:49:44 > 0:49:46"Scottish education is the best in the world."
0:49:46 > 0:49:49Well, it was no longer the best in the world.
0:49:49 > 0:49:53Teachers' wages had fallen well behind other professions
0:49:53 > 0:49:56and mixed with the febrile political atmosphere of the early '80s,
0:49:56 > 0:50:01this had a major impact in Scottish classrooms.
0:50:01 > 0:50:02I had wanted to be a schoolteacher
0:50:02 > 0:50:04from the age of about seven or eight,
0:50:04 > 0:50:08and I found myself in 1983 in the classroom,
0:50:08 > 0:50:12and then, one year in, the big bang of a teachers' strike
0:50:12 > 0:50:15suddenly ripped all that away.
0:50:19 > 0:50:24Scottish teachers are determined to make their stand.
0:50:24 > 0:50:26Well, everyone was terrified of the EIS.
0:50:26 > 0:50:29The Educational Institute of Scotland
0:50:29 > 0:50:33was a really powerful trade union, which was determined, at all costs,
0:50:33 > 0:50:38to protect the interest of its members and seemed little concerned
0:50:38 > 0:50:43with creating opportunities and new ideas. It was very politicised.
0:50:43 > 0:50:48So you have that period of industrial action,
0:50:48 > 0:50:52probably on a scale never seen before
0:50:52 > 0:50:54in Scottish educational history.
0:50:54 > 0:50:57The bitterness of the strike meant
0:50:57 > 0:51:01a kind of withdrawal of labour from unpaid work.
0:51:01 > 0:51:06I can recall, again, the number of teachers who would stay on
0:51:06 > 0:51:11after hours, who would appear at the weekends in the sports fields, etc.
0:51:11 > 0:51:15Almost all of that collapsed and, in many parts of Scotland,
0:51:15 > 0:51:18it has never reappeared.
0:51:19 > 0:51:23I was about 14, 15 when the strikes really started to take hold,
0:51:23 > 0:51:26and I went from having a lot of extra-curricular sport,
0:51:26 > 0:51:30a lot of opportunities, to that pretty much being eliminated.
0:51:30 > 0:51:33The extracurricular, whether it was sport or music or drama,
0:51:33 > 0:51:36it was the heart of the school, it ran through the school's DNA,
0:51:36 > 0:51:38and I don't think we appreciated what we had lost
0:51:38 > 0:51:41until it wasn't there any more. We were hugely reliant on
0:51:41 > 0:51:43the goodwill of the teaching staff
0:51:43 > 0:51:45to give us opportunities, extra-curricular,
0:51:45 > 0:51:47outwith the classroom.
0:51:47 > 0:51:51And I think it never quite recovered afterwards,
0:51:51 > 0:51:54which is a real shame for the generations after me.
0:51:54 > 0:51:59The strike lasted two years and was brought to a close in 1986
0:51:59 > 0:52:02after concessions were made by the government.
0:52:02 > 0:52:04But there was a serious problem in the system
0:52:04 > 0:52:09and the problem was that there was a complete distance
0:52:09 > 0:52:13between the people within it and government and Parliament,
0:52:13 > 0:52:17which was distant, not listening, and certainly not valuing
0:52:17 > 0:52:20those who were actually delivering the service.
0:52:21 > 0:52:24With a majority Tory Government at Westminster,
0:52:24 > 0:52:28but a minority of Tory MPs in Scotland now the norm,
0:52:28 > 0:52:31things would remain far from settled.
0:52:31 > 0:52:33And the new man in charge of Scottish education
0:52:33 > 0:52:36was determined to make his mark.
0:52:36 > 0:52:38I accept that there was a lot of change.
0:52:38 > 0:52:41I was driven. I remember Margaret Thatcher saying to me,
0:52:41 > 0:52:44"You don't go into politics in order to be popular.
0:52:44 > 0:52:46"If you are popular, then you are telling people
0:52:46 > 0:52:49"what they want to hear and, in education in Scotland,
0:52:49 > 0:52:53"the last thing we need is for the trade union leaders
0:52:53 > 0:52:55"to be told what they want to hear."
0:52:55 > 0:52:58Scottish parents were less than happy
0:52:58 > 0:53:01being told by a Prime Minister few had voted for
0:53:01 > 0:53:03how their children would be educated.
0:53:05 > 0:53:09The reaction of Scottish parents to this was almost not simply
0:53:09 > 0:53:12a reaction to the specific educational reforms,
0:53:12 > 0:53:15but almost because, like so many aspects
0:53:15 > 0:53:17of the government's policies in that period,
0:53:17 > 0:53:20it was regarded as an attack on Scottish identity.
0:53:21 > 0:53:22But within a decade,
0:53:22 > 0:53:26policies seen as the worst excesses of Thatcherism
0:53:26 > 0:53:30became widely accepted by parents and the other political parties.
0:53:32 > 0:53:35The Conservatives not only reformed the curriculum
0:53:35 > 0:53:38in a very democratising way, but they also introduced things
0:53:38 > 0:53:40that have subsequently become very popular.
0:53:40 > 0:53:42For example, they enabled parents
0:53:42 > 0:53:44to choose the school that they would send their children to.
0:53:44 > 0:53:47No subsequent government in Scotland,
0:53:47 > 0:53:50whether Labour or Liberal Democrat or SNP,
0:53:50 > 0:53:51has even raised the possibility
0:53:51 > 0:53:54of restricting parental choice of school.
0:53:54 > 0:53:56While the individual policies,
0:53:56 > 0:53:59testing and parents being more involved in school and so on,
0:53:59 > 0:54:02have stood the test of time,
0:54:02 > 0:54:08the resentment that the way they were brought in created
0:54:08 > 0:54:12had a much more negative impact than the individual policies ever had
0:54:12 > 0:54:16and a feeling that decisions were being imposed.
0:54:16 > 0:54:19That was the key element which finally put the spine
0:54:19 > 0:54:22into the movement for Scottish devolution.
0:54:25 > 0:54:27More than any other issue,
0:54:27 > 0:54:31education was the trigger for Scotland's new Parliament.
0:54:31 > 0:54:33And to this day,
0:54:33 > 0:54:37Scotland's schools remain a barometer of the country's life.
0:54:39 > 0:54:44Schools like Dalry Primary, in the west of Edinburgh, built in 1876.
0:54:46 > 0:54:50And this is the school song, performed by the class of 1942.
0:54:50 > 0:54:56PUPILS SINGING
0:55:01 > 0:55:04This is the modern version,
0:55:04 > 0:55:08sung in the multitude of languages now spoken in the school.
0:55:08 > 0:55:12# Welcome to our school, your second home
0:55:12 > 0:55:15# Our ring of respect, you feel included... #
0:55:15 > 0:55:17There's 27 countries
0:55:17 > 0:55:20and 35 languages spoken currently in the school.
0:55:20 > 0:55:25A century before, Irish immigrants had been held apart
0:55:25 > 0:55:27from the mainstream.
0:55:27 > 0:55:30Today's immigrant communities are encouraged
0:55:30 > 0:55:33into the heart of Scottish education.
0:55:33 > 0:55:36# Welcome to you, As-Salaam-Alaikum
0:55:36 > 0:55:38# Peace be with you... #
0:55:38 > 0:55:40It's a really interesting community,
0:55:40 > 0:55:42it's a really amazing weave of people.
0:55:42 > 0:55:45But immersion itself is the key thing,
0:55:45 > 0:55:47children as a resource is really important,
0:55:47 > 0:55:50because children teach other children English.
0:55:50 > 0:55:53They are learning about children from other cultures,
0:55:53 > 0:55:55they are learning about different religions.
0:55:55 > 0:55:57I think it breeds tolerance, you know.
0:55:57 > 0:56:01If children learn there is nothing to be afraid of
0:56:01 > 0:56:03in children who are from other cultures,
0:56:03 > 0:56:06then that sets an example to us all.
0:56:08 > 0:56:09Scotland has always, historically,
0:56:09 > 0:56:12been a weave of different nations coming together,
0:56:12 > 0:56:14and I don't see this as any different.
0:56:14 > 0:56:16I just see it as part of that continuum.
0:56:16 > 0:56:18So, I really celebrate it at Dalry. I'm really, really proud of it.
0:56:18 > 0:56:23# Peace be with you Shanti, Shalom - yeah! #
0:56:25 > 0:56:28People in Scotland have always thought of their schools
0:56:28 > 0:56:31as constituting the morality of the nation, if you like.
0:56:31 > 0:56:34Constituting the way in which people should behave towards each other
0:56:34 > 0:56:36and the way in which they should view the wider world.
0:56:36 > 0:56:41Education has long been part of the fabric of this nation
0:56:41 > 0:56:44and the way we teach our children has never stood still.
0:56:44 > 0:56:50Perhaps, along the way, we overstated how good it actually was.
0:56:50 > 0:56:51But when we look to the future,
0:56:51 > 0:56:56we should also look back to the ambitions of the past.
0:56:58 > 0:57:01As an aspiration, as an ideal, Scotland should always be proud
0:57:01 > 0:57:02of its educational system.
0:57:02 > 0:57:05It is a great heritage that we have fallen heir to.
0:57:05 > 0:57:09That ideal has been there since 1560
0:57:09 > 0:57:12of educating the mass of the population.
0:57:12 > 0:57:16That is a wonderful ideal we should pursue with vigour.
0:57:16 > 0:57:19For all the problems that Scottish education faces today,
0:57:19 > 0:57:20if we look back 100 years,
0:57:20 > 0:57:24we can see that Scottish education is doing far, far better
0:57:24 > 0:57:27for the majority of the population than ever before.
0:57:27 > 0:57:31We may have improved educationally, in absolute terms,
0:57:31 > 0:57:35but comparatively, we are certainly not doing as well as we did
0:57:35 > 0:57:37in the 18th and 19th centuries.
0:57:37 > 0:57:40Other countries have caught up and that's good.
0:57:40 > 0:57:42But it doesn't mean to say
0:57:42 > 0:57:46that we should give up being proud of Scottish education.
0:57:48 > 0:57:53Next time, the world of the Scottish child and how it has changed
0:57:53 > 0:57:56in the last 100 years.
0:57:56 > 0:57:58A spike from an old railing, that was your javelin.
0:57:58 > 0:58:02Or a slate from a roof, that became your discus.
0:58:02 > 0:58:06Your parents never saw you whatsoever until you were hungry.
0:58:06 > 0:58:11From the children of the slums, to the children of suburbia.
0:58:13 > 0:58:16- Hi, Mike.- Call me Dad, Gregory, or Pop or something.
0:58:16 > 0:58:19It makes me feel better when you call me Dad or Father.
0:58:19 > 0:58:23And on to the boys and girls of modern Scotland.
0:58:23 > 0:58:28Play on the iPad, play on the phone,
0:58:28 > 0:58:31play on the computer, watch TV.