Browse content similar to 06/08/2013. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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You can see more of that report on Our World on the news channel this | :00:03. | :00:11. | |
weekend. Tonight on Newsnight Scotland, | :00:11. | :00:15. | |
congratulations to all those students who got their Higher and | :00:15. | :00:18. | |
Standard Grade results today. But have they been taught the right | :00:18. | :00:22. | |
things to succeed either in a job or higher education? | :00:22. | :00:27. | |
And wide at East Africans so good at running? We speak to the Scottish | :00:27. | :00:32. | |
doctor who has run across Kenya to find out what we can learn from | :00:32. | :00:35. | |
their success. Good evening. Whether by post or | :00:35. | :00:39. | |
text message, these will be the last students to receive Standard Grades | :00:39. | :00:45. | |
results, next year being replaced by new exams, Nationals, but will those | :00:45. | :00:50. | |
get pupils -- will do is leave pupils better equipped to handle | :00:50. | :00:55. | |
what is next. Both employers and teachers in higher education have | :00:55. | :00:58. | |
been critical of the lack of skills among school leavers. | :00:58. | :01:03. | |
CHEERING. At Glasgow's Bellahouston Academy today, a familiar scene | :01:03. | :01:09. | |
across Scottish schools. More than 150,000 candidates, most of them | :01:09. | :01:14. | |
secondary pupils, got their exam results and across the country, past | :01:14. | :01:23. | |
-- pass rates went up. Taking Glasgow as an example, results are | :01:23. | :01:28. | |
not, attendance up, exclusions down, but along with improvement | :01:28. | :01:33. | |
comes with the question our exams getting easier and features getting | :01:33. | :01:38. | |
better at coaching pupils to pass them? For those working in the | :01:38. | :01:41. | |
education system, the anthers are pretty clear-cut. There is no | :01:41. | :01:48. | |
evidence, certainly in Scotland, for the sort of grade inflation, about | :01:48. | :01:53. | |
which there are suspicions, maybe in other parts of the UK. The fact of | :01:53. | :01:58. | |
the matter is very much that these results are explained entirely by | :01:58. | :02:03. | |
the ongoing commitment and hard work of teachers and schools like this | :02:03. | :02:09. | |
and across the city and the country. As well as the ongoing hard work and | :02:09. | :02:17. | |
application of the young people themselves. That is the story. And | :02:17. | :02:23. | |
pupils like Adam McInnes say they have worked hard to get results. | :02:23. | :02:27. | |
think it is disappointing, because young people do work very hard and | :02:27. | :02:32. | |
you give up so much and to hear it belittled, it is disappointing. You | :02:32. | :02:38. | |
work very hard. I think you deserve praise for what you achieve. Maybe | :02:38. | :02:42. | |
things are different, but we are working with how things are now. | :02:42. | :02:47. | |
is that exam system fit for the modern age? Brian Boyd, a former | :02:48. | :02:53. | |
headteacher, says it needs to be looked at again. I am not sure the | :02:53. | :02:59. | |
examination system serves the needs of young people very well. Tripping | :02:59. | :03:03. | |
hundreds of young people into a hall, sitting in silence, writing | :03:03. | :03:09. | |
fast for three hours, it will not do in the 21st century. If you want | :03:09. | :03:13. | |
critical and creative thinkers, team players, self-directed workers, the | :03:13. | :03:18. | |
examination system does not tell you much about those skills, but narrows | :03:18. | :03:23. | |
the range of learning opportunities in fifth year and it is only in | :03:23. | :03:26. | |
sixth year that children can flourish, because the pressure is | :03:26. | :03:31. | |
off and they can be creative and relax. It is time for a long, hard | :03:31. | :03:36. | |
look at the current system. I am encouraged by the standards I have | :03:36. | :03:39. | |
seen... So do employers think Scotland's young people are prepared | :03:39. | :03:44. | |
for the world of work are sure Mark Bryan Buchan heads up Scottish | :03:44. | :03:48. | |
Engineering and reckons the country has entered a golden age when it | :03:48. | :03:53. | |
comes to pupils' standards and he is more concerned with university | :03:53. | :03:58. | |
graduates. There is a tremendous work ethic amongst this generation, | :03:58. | :04:04. | |
who really want to succeed. There is a drive to 60 die have not seen in | :04:04. | :04:10. | |
previous generations. As far as -- there is a drive to succeed I have | :04:10. | :04:13. | |
not seen in previous generations. But we have graduates we're there is | :04:13. | :04:19. | |
work to do to make sure those people coming out with good degrees are | :04:19. | :04:24. | |
actually industry ready. So might we see that kind of reforms recently | :04:24. | :04:29. | |
outlined south of the border? Education Secretary Michael Gove set | :04:29. | :04:35. | |
out plans to reform GCSE two with tougher exams and a move away from | :04:35. | :04:40. | |
coursework. Young people in this country deserve an education system | :04:40. | :04:45. | |
that can compete with the best of the world, assist in setting and | :04:45. | :04:49. | |
achieving higher expectations. that is not a path the government in | :04:49. | :04:54. | |
Scotland plans to go down. What we are trying to do in Scotland is | :04:54. | :04:58. | |
ensured our education system is aligned closely to the needs of our | :04:58. | :05:03. | |
economy. We want to prepare young people for lifelong learning, | :05:03. | :05:07. | |
equipped young people to be responsible citizens, but at the | :05:07. | :05:11. | |
heart of the education system, we need to prepare young people for the | :05:11. | :05:17. | |
world of work. We have seen many changes to education in recent | :05:17. | :05:24. | |
years. The introduction of the Curriculum for Excellence, for | :05:24. | :05:29. | |
example, and after more than 20 years, Standard Grades have come to | :05:29. | :05:34. | |
an end, all part of a drive to help ensure the system evolves to meet | :05:34. | :05:40. | |
the needs of an ever-changing world. I am joined in the studio by the | :05:40. | :05:43. | |
general secretary of the teaching union, the EIS, Larry Flanagan. And | :05:43. | :05:46. | |
from Edinburgh by Lindsay Paterson, who is professor of education policy | :05:46. | :05:51. | |
at Edinburgh University. Lindsay Paterson, it is alleged that we have | :05:51. | :05:56. | |
these different approaches, from the government, a new exams system | :05:56. | :06:02. | |
coming in from next year, these Nationals, meanwhile Michael Gove | :06:02. | :06:06. | |
down south talking about a different system there, reforming GCSEs. Is | :06:06. | :06:15. | |
there really any real difference in approach between the two systems? | :06:15. | :06:20. | |
Yes, there is an emerging and interesting difference, one that | :06:20. | :06:24. | |
there will be a lot more emphasis on exams under Michael Gove's. Forms | :06:24. | :06:30. | |
than there will be in Scotland, which is very important. It is | :06:30. | :06:33. | |
important in one respect, because exams do not give unfitted Vantage | :06:33. | :06:40. | |
to people who can get help outside the classroom. And on the one hand, | :06:40. | :06:45. | |
it is fear in Scotland, because some people do better with so-called | :06:45. | :06:49. | |
continuous assessment than in the final exams. The other major | :06:49. | :06:54. | |
difference is that Michael Gove seems to place more emphasis on what | :06:54. | :06:57. | |
he calls traditional academic knowledge, whereas in Scotland, | :06:57. | :07:03. | |
there is an increasing focus on preparing people for life and work. | :07:03. | :07:10. | |
But what is that, in practice, what does it mean to say preparing people | :07:10. | :07:14. | |
for life and work, and that that is different for teaching people | :07:14. | :07:20. | |
traditional academic values? That is the nub of the matter. | :07:20. | :07:25. | |
Traditionally, using that term, preparing people to think, engaging | :07:25. | :07:30. | |
them with the tradition of academic thought was thought to be the best | :07:30. | :07:34. | |
way to prepare people for life and work. It is only in the last 20-30 | :07:34. | :07:39. | |
years that there has been a contrast between vocational approaches and | :07:39. | :07:43. | |
the kind of approach adopted by Michael Gove. In practice, it | :07:43. | :07:48. | |
probably means less attention in Scotland than in England in future | :07:48. | :07:52. | |
to learning about traditional structures of academic disciplines, | :07:52. | :08:00. | |
moron cross curricular activities and applied knowledge. -- increasing | :08:00. | :08:04. | |
cross curricular activities. It will mean the emphasis on bad tackle | :08:04. | :08:11. | |
applications will be more important. Is that your view? That | :08:11. | :08:13. | |
is a fair assessment in terms of where we are in terms of the | :08:13. | :08:23. | |
:08:23. | :08:23. | ||
emergence... But those receiving their results today are the last to | :08:23. | :08:33. | |
set Standard Grades. And next year, I am sure the Curriculum for | :08:33. | :08:42. | |
Next year's they will be the first to engage with Curriculum for | :08:42. | :08:46. | |
Excellence. What will be the difference between the Nationals and | :08:46. | :08:53. | |
the Standard Grades? Two key issues. There will be a difference | :08:53. | :08:59. | |
in the nature of the exam, and as indicated, broadening out of what is | :08:59. | :09:03. | |
assessed, so the units, for example, will look at how you apply | :09:03. | :09:09. | |
skills, knowledge and understanding, rather than you pass a test. The | :09:09. | :09:15. | |
bigger difference the senior fees from four to six is some of the | :09:15. | :09:18. | |
issues you're introduction address, concerns about brother values of | :09:18. | :09:24. | |
education, there should be space within the senior fees for schools | :09:24. | :09:28. | |
to engage with that. Weird as at the moment, the upper half of secondary | :09:28. | :09:36. | |
school is dominated by young people on a treadmill of assessment. | :09:36. | :09:39. | |
Curriculum for Excellence senior fees is trying to it increase space | :09:39. | :09:43. | |
and breadth in terms of learning experience. Traditionally, next | :09:43. | :09:50. | |
year, people might not see much of a difference. Because it is a big step | :09:50. | :09:56. | |
forward. I think it will take a few years. A lot of schools next year | :09:56. | :10:01. | |
are simply replacing their current Standard Grades exams national four | :10:01. | :10:07. | |
and five stop these broader and arguably vaguer aspirations, which | :10:07. | :10:16. | |
this grotty system has, --... guaranteeing there will be anything | :10:16. | :10:20. | |
in place that can measure these broader and arguably vaguer | :10:20. | :10:24. | |
aspirations? There could be a serious question about what the | :10:24. | :10:31. | |
purpose of this is? I do not know whether we will broaden all these | :10:31. | :10:38. | |
other things, we have quite traditional exams, I do not think | :10:38. | :10:44. | |
the Nationals up revolutionary in any sense at all. One of the things | :10:44. | :10:48. | |
about this emphasis on application is it threatens to narrow down | :10:48. | :10:53. | |
thinking. The best way to make people think creatively is what | :10:53. | :10:58. | |
Michael Gove is trying to achieve, which is to get people to engage | :10:58. | :11:03. | |
with the widest set of ideas, debate them, read what the best thinkers | :11:03. | :11:07. | |
have thought about and respond to them. That has always been thought | :11:07. | :11:12. | |
to be the best way to make creative minds and the best way to do that is | :11:12. | :11:17. | |
not to force them into applied knowledge prematurely. Is there a | :11:17. | :11:23. | |
point in that? I agree the role in deep study, in terms of subject | :11:23. | :11:27. | |
disciplines, is important and one of the aims of Curriculum for | :11:27. | :11:34. | |
Excellence is to create that in more depth. But a lot of parents...One | :11:34. | :11:39. | |
of the key issues here is not everything that is achievable has to | :11:39. | :11:45. | |
be assessed through an exam system. Speaking about self-confidence in | :11:45. | :11:49. | |
young people, that is not something you can easily assess, but it is an | :11:49. | :11:55. | |
aspiration. It would be great to encourage self-confidence, and for | :11:55. | :12:01. | |
people to have a broader view, but if you are a university, or further | :12:01. | :12:06. | |
education college, or employer, you needs metric by which you can see | :12:06. | :12:11. | |
you would like take that one, but not that one, and the worry for | :12:11. | :12:13. | |
parents and perhaps students themselves is this sounds terribly | :12:13. | :12:22. | |
fine, but wouldn't it be better if I was taught old-fashioned ways to be | :12:22. | :12:26. | |
good at mathematics, physics and chemistry and English and French? | :12:26. | :12:31. | |
The other stuff can be around the edges. We want young people to be | :12:31. | :12:37. | |
good at all these subjects, but one issue raised is that young people | :12:37. | :12:41. | |
can actually learn how to pass an exam without necessarily learning | :12:41. | :12:46. | |
about the subject, which has been one of the criticisms of the exams | :12:46. | :12:50. | |
system. The coaching towards passing the exam becomes more important than | :12:50. | :12:55. | |
the understanding and depth of knowledge. The changes being looked | :12:55. | :12:58. | |
at in terms of the new qualifications are trying to read | :12:58. | :13:02. | |
dressed that balance. One of the things I noticed, a discussion | :13:02. | :13:07. | |
several weeks ago on this programme, about the London challenge, the | :13:07. | :13:09. | |
extraordinary way they have done schools around in London, and | :13:09. | :13:15. | |
looking at some of the rhetoric around Curriculum for Excellence, | :13:15. | :13:19. | |
what did not seem to be there, and I might be wrong, is what was central | :13:19. | :13:25. | |
to that, the idea of aspiration and that every child should have | :13:25. | :13:29. | |
aspiration and what seems to be put into them in London is it does not | :13:29. | :13:34. | |
matter how disadvantaged you are, it is you should think you will be as | :13:34. | :13:41. | |
good as absolutely anybody else. That is right. There is a variation | :13:41. | :13:45. | |
in ability, that is undoubted. It stretches across all social group. | :13:46. | :13:52. | |
It hes a appropriate to have high, challenging aspirations for, let us | :13:52. | :13:56. | |
say, people living in poverty as people in affluent suburbs. That | :13:56. | :14:03. | |
should be a fundamental pl, and used to be a fundamental principle of the | :14:03. | :14:08. | |
Scottish education system. We are losing it for everyone. We are not | :14:08. | :14:11. | |
talking about intellectual challenges being the main purpose of | :14:11. | :14:15. | |
the education system, is it is there as one of many challenges. It loses | :14:15. | :14:19. | |
what is supposed to be the core feature of any education system, | :14:19. | :14:24. | |
which is to stretch people intellectually. Thank you for coming | :14:24. | :14:29. | |
Now, running is supposed to be good for you. | :14:29. | :14:34. | |
Tens of thousands of peope of all ages take part in 10k races and even | :14:34. | :14:35. | |
marathons, and the health benefits are obvious. | :14:35. | :14:38. | |
But a young Scottish doctor has taken it to the limit. | :14:38. | :14:40. | |
Dr Andrew Murray runs ultra marathons. | :14:40. | :14:44. | |
Three years ago, for example, he ran from Scotland to Africa in 85 days. | :14:44. | :14:47. | |
That's more than 30 miles a day, for nearly three months. | :14:47. | :14:50. | |
The health benefits of that may not be so obvious. | :14:50. | :14:53. | |
More recently, last month, he combined his interests by running | :14:53. | :14:56. | |
round Kenya, investigating the idea there's a scientific reason why | :14:56. | :14:59. | |
people who come from that region are so spectacularly good at distance | :14:59. | :15:03. | |
running. We'll hear from him in a few | :15:03. | :15:13. | |
:15:13. | :15:33. | ||
groets to Morocco, accompanied by a documentary film crew. I'm fine. | :15:33. | :15:40. | |
Very uncomfortable. There was no record to beat for this sort of | :15:40. | :15:46. | |
performance, nobody else had tried! The next big adventure drew on his | :15:46. | :15:53. | |
professional, scientific and medical interests. How come the world's top | :15:53. | :15:59. | |
marathon runners come from Kenya. It is a statistic that so amazing it | :15:59. | :16:06. | |
borders on the absurd. Has been running in and around the hills of | :16:06. | :16:13. | |
Kenya who produce a disproportionate number of fast runners, is that due | :16:13. | :16:18. | |
to the environment, altitude and environment are perfect for training | :16:18. | :16:28. | |
:16:28. | :16:32. | ||
or a genetic kweshg or is it that success breeds success. | :16:33. | :16:37. | |
Dr Andrew Murray joins me now from Edinburgh. What was it like doing | :16:37. | :16:42. | |
that? It was absolutely fantastic. Kenya is one of the most extreme and | :16:42. | :16:49. | |
most beautiful parts of the world. Running 900 kilometers through | :16:49. | :16:58. | |
up-and-over Mount Kill minute jar owe, up-and-over Mount Kenya and | :16:58. | :17:03. | |
tropical rainforest might sound arduous. Although the altitude is | :17:03. | :17:07. | |
great, the heat is great as well. Did you find that physically you | :17:07. | :17:11. | |
were adjusted to that? Well, it was great to have expertise and to take | :17:12. | :17:21. | |
the advice from the experts and getting advice from Olympics | :17:21. | :17:30. | |
champions, world charp champions and record Breakers. You go through | :17:30. | :17:32. | |
pretty incredible temperature differences. It's very hot at the | :17:32. | :17:36. | |
bottom. You run through tropical rainforest, cloud forest with the | :17:36. | :17:44. | |
monkeys and things as that. Up into the moorland and the glacier before | :17:44. | :17:52. | |
you you hit the summit and back down. What did you learn about why | :17:52. | :17:58. | |
East Africa seems to produce such extraordinary runners? The Rift | :17:58. | :18:03. | |
Valley region of Kenya is the single greatest and most productive line of | :18:04. | :18:08. | |
talent in world sport, in any sport. Just fascinating to work out what is | :18:08. | :18:12. | |
behind this. I actually thought it might be a genetic thing or a secret | :18:12. | :18:17. | |
sauce they ate, but I was investigating the reason that | :18:17. | :18:21. | |
actually 11 medallists in the last World Championship came from one | :18:21. | :18:28. | |
village. One village produced more medallists at the last World | :18:28. | :18:31. | |
Championship than a combination of China and Britain. There is no | :18:31. | :18:37. | |
evidence there is genetic factors involved in it? A huge number of | :18:37. | :18:40. | |
studies have been done in collaboration with Glasgow and | :18:40. | :18:47. | |
Kenya. There is no genetic basis. Champions are not born, made. Kenya | :18:47. | :18:52. | |
makes champions better than anyone else. It's not genetics and it's | :18:52. | :18:58. | |
made. What makes them, is it dedication? A lot of factors that by | :18:58. | :19:02. | |
themselves are not sufficient, but necessary to make a champion. Kenya | :19:02. | :19:05. | |
produces champions better than most. They train extremely hard. They eat | :19:05. | :19:09. | |
the right sort of things. Something that in Scotland perhaps we are not | :19:09. | :19:17. | |
quite as good at as a population. What do they eat? Their diet is | :19:17. | :19:22. | |
carbohydrates, 70% carbohydrates, fresh organic produce from the | :19:22. | :19:29. | |
farms. Most live rurally and live a peasant up bringing and run from | :19:29. | :19:32. | |
school and work. They have a lifetime of training. They dedicate | :19:33. | :19:37. | |
themle selves to it. There is role modelling. In Scotland we have | :19:37. | :19:45. | |
fantastic role models for sport, Chris Hoy, Andrew Murray, most of | :19:45. | :19:52. | |
their role models are runners. It's about everything coming together - | :19:52. | :19:55. | |
In the village there must be an element, because it has been | :19:55. | :19:59. | |
successful already. Presumably it's a way out of poverty for some of | :19:59. | :20:04. | |
these people - the statistics - you wrote an article, you said 800 of | :20:04. | :20:07. | |
the 4,000 population are professional runners? It's absurd. | :20:08. | :20:11. | |
There is more traffic in terms of people running and cows on the | :20:11. | :20:16. | |
street than there are motorcars. The most expensive cars and houses are | :20:16. | :20:20. | |
owned by professional runners. People look towards these people. | :20:20. | :20:23. | |
They see success. They see that could be a way for them as well. An | :20:24. | :20:29. | |
example of one World Champion looking at his neighbour, a junior | :20:29. | :20:33. | |
World Champion. He had never run before, he said - I'm taller than | :20:34. | :20:39. | |
him, I must be faster, I could be ale world champion. Two years later | :20:39. | :20:43. | |
he was a world champion. You brought anything back that you could take to | :20:43. | :20:49. | |
the Institute of Sport to say, here is something we aren't doing with | :20:49. | :20:53. | |
potential long and middle distance runners that we could do? We are | :20:53. | :20:57. | |
absolutely serious about supporting our athletes to be the very best. | :20:57. | :21:02. | |
Things are on the up. The world championships taking place next week | :21:02. | :21:07. | |
- Give me one thing you will apply from your trip? A clear focus on | :21:07. | :21:11. | |
being the best. Involving the right people and knowing what to do when | :21:11. | :21:18. | |
you encounter adversity. All right. Thank you very much. Now the front | :21:18. | :21:25. | |
Thank you very much. Now the front page: the Scotsman lead on the | :21:25. | :21:29. | |
tragedy incident, two dead in shooting at equestrian centre, the | :21:29. | :21:38. |