'Talking Scottish Education' Podcast and Coming Substack Articles

Talking Scottish Education

It was a pleasure to be asked on to the first episode of ‘Talking Scottish Education’, a new podcast hosted by Darren Leslie and Dr. Stuart Farmer. Along with Derek Young, the four of us discussed the current Education Bill before Holyrood, the general policy landscape, and how you can get involved with influencing things.

You can listen (and make sure to subscribe!) to the pocast: here.

Here is a clip discussing the impact of the accelerated politicisation of Scottish education:

Chances or Choices?

I will soon start uploading here a range of insight from my PhD research. ‘Chances or Choices’ investigated how young people in Scotland choose their school subjects, and what influences those decisions. It looked at both personal motivations—like enjoying a subject or thinking it will help in the future—and outside influences such as family, teachers, and the school itself. The study also investigated whether all pupils have the same opportunities, finding that subject choices can be shaped by social background and school curriculum structures.

Over the coming while I will start to post some (what I think are) interesting findings on a whole host of areas, including the internal influences on subject choice, the spheres of external influence, the role of teachers, school structures, the role of 6th year, curriculum fragmentation and the list goes on and on. Please send on the subscription link to those you know who have find any and all of this of interest!