The Scottish Politics thread

[ganganvince]

How's the opening of schools going up there

 

[west didsblue]

I've heard a few friends openly say that about them and their families. People i'd never have expected.

Still don't think it is enough myself, for a different outcome to last time, however. Adds a touch more credibility to the polls i guess.

Based on an admittedly small sample size, every resident of Scotland bar one who posts on here would seriously consider voting for independence after previously being very much against it. The longer Johnson is in power with his current policies and apparent disdain for the opinions of anyone other than loyal Tory Brexiteers, the more likely I see Scotland voting to leave the UK given a chance.

 

[west didsblue]

How's the opening of schools going up there

Don’t think they’ll get many kids going in August.

 

[blueparrot]

Don’t think they’ll get many kids going in August.

Haven’t heard anyone say they aren’t sending them, maybe it will depend on which area though.

 

[Saddleworth2]

Don’t think they’ll get many kids going in August.

My 4 grandkids all ready to go back in the next week or so.

 

[ganganvince]

Don’t think they’ll get many kids going in August.

Scottish schools went back this week with a planned full return by middle of next.

 

[west didsblue]

Scottish schools went back this week with a planned full return by middle of next.

I stand corrected

 

[Vicious111]

She'll grow out of it.

Tell her to watch this (https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episo...neil-interviews-election-2019-nicola-sturgeon) and she'll see how quickly Sturgeon's populist rhetoric melts under basic journalistic examination.

If you think that's melting I don't know where you have been since March.

Big fuck up today though by the looks of it by the SQA regarding the predicted results of schools in deprived areas. Particularly the lowest 20%. I know the kids can appeal against it but I'm keen to hear what the FM has to say. Even Mhairi Black came out first thing this morning to raise concern about the issue. Hopefully its something that can be rectified quickly so students don't lose out on university places simply because they come from a scheme.

 

[Saddleworth2]

If you think that's melting I don't know where you have been since March.

Big fuck up today though by the looks of it by the SQA regarding the predicted results of schools in deprived areas. Particularly the lowest 20%. I know the kids can appeal against it but I'm keen to hear what the FM has to say. Even Mhairi Black came out first thing this morning to raise concern about the issue. Hopefully its something that can be rectified quickly so students don't lose out on university places simply because they come from a scheme.

It wont be the first time the SQA have fucked up big time. Hopefully it will be fixed quickly.

 

[Ban-jani]

And why wouldn’t an independent Scotland join EFTA to gain access to the single market. Should be a far quicker process, especially if it is wrapped up during a transition phase? Would be a sensible step towards full EU membership.

They could certainly apply but again there’s no guarantee they’d be allowed in and again, it wouldn’t be instant.

Time for joining EFTA isn’t as clear as the EU, as only a handful are in it and only two have joined, one being a tiny city state.

The last time someone joined EFTA was 1971 so it’s unclear as to what would happen.

What I do know is Scotland would need to be an independent sovereign state before applying and any delay would be critical to the economy.

That’s probably the best option for them though, it would at least not be totally handing over powers from London to Brussels.

 

[Saddleworth2]

What a cods arse the Scottish government have made of this higher fiasco. Just days from when Nicola gave a detailed and lucid response to why teachers marks have been downgraded, they do a complete U turn. Just when you want honesty and integrity you get populist politics. Swinney should step down or be sacked.

 

[blueinsa]

What a cods arse the Scottish government have made of this higher fiasco. Just days from when Nicola gave a detailed and lucid response to why teachers marks have been downgraded, they do a complete U turn. Just when you want honesty and integrity you get populist politics. Swinney should step down or be sacked.

What pupils or should i say, outraged parents on social media and i have a tale to tell on that at the end don't realise is it is a fact that exam pressure makes even the very best underperform by between 10-12% and it would be completely unfair to just award pupils who through no fault of their own i will add, straight A's whilst they have had no pressure placed on them to actually earn that grade. Most teaching professionals and those involved in exams and marking have been hung out to dry here in a desperate attempt to pander to parents who have took to social media.

One set of parents in our village have attacked the SQA and teachers involved at the local school in a very nasty way. Typical look at me posts on social media, demanding justice for their child whose dream is now ruined. The actual dream is for her to study at Edinburgh in Physics so that her parents can buy her a flat in Edinburgh which they can then rent out during the fringe etc, yes, they are property developers so this is very much about them and their dream rather than the childs imo. So......completely unfair her child was given a B, appeals going in left right and centre, Nicola this that and the other, SNP given dogs abuse, school, teachers, you name it, they have got it.

You can only imagine the silence when it emerged she got very much her predicted grade, a B and that prelim exams showed she was anything but the straight A pupil her parents have been busy telling everyone.

They can now fuck off and they where once good friends of ours and the social media social justice warriors who will jump on any story regardless of proof or facts and dish out dogs abuse to people now found to be in the right can also fuck right off.

 

[PannickAtTheDisco]

Completely devalues all of the exam grades. Would have to completely revamp job hiring process to weed out people as the grades are meaningless.

 

[Saddleworth2]

What pupils or should i say, outraged parents on social media and i have a tale to tell on that at the end don't realise is it is a fact that exam pressure makes even the very best underperform by between 10-12% and it would be completely unfair to just award pupils who through no fault of their own i will add, straight A's whilst they have had no pressure placed on them to actually earn that grade. Most teaching professionals and those involved in exams and marking have been hung out to dry here in a desperate attempt to pander to parents who have took to social media.

One set of parents in our village have attacked the SQA and teachers involved at the local school in a very nasty way. Typical look at me posts on social media, demanding justice for their child whose dream is now ruined. The actual dream is for her to study at Edinburgh in Physics so that her parents can buy her a flat in Edinburgh which they can then rent out during the fringe etc, yes, they are property developers so this is very much about them and their dream rather than the childs imo. So......completely unfair her child was given a B, appeals going in left right and centre, Bicola this that and the other, SNP given dogs abuse, school, teachers, you name it, they have got it.

You can only imagine the silence when it emerged she got very much her predicted grade, a B and that prelim exams showed she was anything but the straight A pupil her parents have been busy telling everyone.

They can now fuck off and they where once good friends of ours and the social media social justice warriors who will jump on any story regardless of proof or facts and dish out dogs abuse to people now found to be in the right can also fuck right off.

So we now have a results ‘peak’ this year where marks are far higher than any other year in history. The justification Is this year is different. Well it is. But that’s not good justification as to why teachers predicted rating is so out of line to previous years results. Putting aside that as an issue, what has pissed me off far more is the supine backtracking and u-turn. Now where have we seen that before? if she is going to sell independence to the undecided. She and her government have to be better than that. If Scotland needs hard news it should get hard news. Not bloody roll over and tickle my belly when there is the first sign of pushback.

 

[blueinsa]

So we now have a results ‘peak’ this year where marks are far higher than any other year in history. The justification Is this year is different. Well it is. But that’s not good justification as to why teachers predicted rating is so out of line to previous years results. Putting aside that as an issue, what has pissed me off far more is the supine backtracking and u-turn. Now where have we seen that before? if she is going to sell independence to the undecided. She and her government have to be better than that. If Scotland needs hard news it should get hard news. Not bloody roll over and tickle my belly when there is the first sign of pushback.

An academic year disrupted like never before will never produce exceptional results never seen before it is that simple. My own kids in primary school are not more educated than they where pre pandemic and are much the poorer for the experience so why all of a sudden avery kid in Scotland deserves straight A's i will never know or agree with.

This actually harms kids futures as they are being led up a path they are sadly ill equipped to cope with.

 

[Saddleworth2]

An academic year disrupted like never before will never produce exceptional results never seen before it is that simple. My own kids in primary school are not more educated than they where pre pandemic and are much the poorer for the experience so why all of a sudden avery kid in Scotland deserves straight A's i will never know or agree with.

This actually harms kids futures as they are being led up a path they are sadly ill equipped to cope with.

Exactly this. it’s not as if this is a glitch either. Education standards have been falling year on year. There is so much evidence that Swinney is not the right person. Resign or sacked.

 

[Coatigan]

What a cods arse the Scottish government have made of this higher fiasco. Just days from when Nicola gave a detailed and lucid response to why teachers marks have been downgraded, they do a complete U turn. Just when you want honesty and integrity you get populist politics. Swinney should step down or be sacked.

No issue with u-turns, better than getting it wrong. But the whole thing is a bit of an arse-up. Either rushed and misjudged, or gutless.

Teachers probably have more to be upset about than parents/pupils.

 

[blueinsa]

Exactly this. it’s not as if this is a glitch either. Education standards have been falling year on year. There is so much evidence that Swinney is not the right person. Resign or sacked.

Social media is killing society and politics!

This is a perfect example of it in action.

 

[Saddleworth2]

No issue with u-turns, better than getting it wrong. But the whole thing is a bit of an arse-up. Either rushed and misjudged, or gutless.

Teachers probably have more to be upset about than parents/pupils.

Not sure I agree with that mate. In a year where their teaching has been massively disrupted with some (not all) schools providing zero support for kids in lockdown, why provide projected results far higher than any other year. What is the logic of that?

 

[Mazzarelli's Swiss Cheese]

The elephant in the room here is that kids in deprived areas should be marked down as they would normally get poorer exam results than the rich/privileged kids. Opportunity and education in Scotland are just as class/wealth driven as elsewhere. The teachers probably over estimated predicted grades as giving everyone an A is the easy way out - also not really fair to use results from mocks. Most of us arse around and do poorly in mocks, which gives us the kick up the arse to pull our fingers out for the real thing.
No perfect solution, but I'd either make every kid repeat the year or sit the papers (exam conditions are socially distanced) and award grades as per normal percentiles.