LITERATURE The power of Burns


Burns Night is next Wednesday (January 25), but the revamped


Ayrshire museum that is devoted to the Bard’s memory has plenty to offer pupils and teachers all year round. Sam Phipps paid a visit


a


you as the “enemy” is alarming, bringing to mind the “enemies of the people” or “enemies of the state” of the Stalinist USSR, Maoist China or even the novel 1984. Whether you agree with academies or not, the


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use of such divisive language is concerning. Just because others see things differently does not


mean that they are “happy with failure”. They have a right to believe that “failure” can be addressed by alternative means. academies have been promoted as some sort of


panacea, but changing the way schools are governed is not a guarantee of success. The key is the quality of leadership and a positive ethos. We do not want to see the creation of two-


tier system that damages local authorities’ ability to deliver support services – for special needs and emotional and behavioural problems, school transport, and psychology, culture and sports, etc – to maintained schools. according to The Guardian: “analysis of


submissions to the government’s consultation on academy funding by the Local Government association, the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and accountancy and the umbrella body London Councils, supplemented by information from six individual councils, shows that councils believe too much money has been given to individual academies by the government, and that ministers are now trying to take cash from local authorities to meet these costs.”


GROUP OF teenagers are making butter, 18th century style. Later they will be trying on period costumes and handling old utensils, such as irons (cold), kirns and cradles. Then learning some more Scots words and walking


along the Poet’s Path… This morning it is the turn of Donaldson’s, Scotland’s


national school for children who are deaf or have communication difficulties. Tomorrow more visitors are due from a Glasgow secondary and a Lanarkshire primary. Other pupils have come from Belfast by boat to Stranraer; the Isle of Bute; and Dunbar in East Lothian, while teachers from as far away as Ghana and Russia have visited for inspiration and materials.


Union address: Voice Big Brother is watching


People with different views are democratic,


not ‘enemies’ says an angry Philip Parkin


n a recent speech, education secretary Michael Gove declared critics of the government’s academies programme to be the “enemies of promise”. There is nothing new about politicians


having a go at opponents, but declaring anyone who has the temerity to criticise


One of our officers attended a consultation


meeting at a local authority early years support unit which is facing cuts. The local authority blamed the government’s academies policy. as funding is taken away from local authorities


and given to academies, services supplied by local authorities to all schools and settings become increasingly vulnerable when expenditure must be cut. Perhaps those who think differently to Mr Gove


are, like the protagonist of Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People, to be ostracised for pointing out inconvenient truths. The education secretary’s speech isn’t the first


time he has used the language of Communist China. Last year, we criticised his comparison of his “revolutionary” education policies to Chairman Mao’s Cultural Revolution as in poor taste, given the violent purges of opponents and mass executions and imprisonment that took place in China during the Cultural Revolution. In his latest speech, Mr Gove dismisses those


who think differently as “as ideologues, the enemies of reform, the ones who put doctrine ahead of pupils’ interests” yet his own views are “ideology” too – but, presumably, the only true ideology. “The academies programme is not about ideology.” Of course it is. Look up “ideology” in a dictionary


– “beliefs”, “principles”, “vision”, “set of system of ideas and ideals, basis of policy”. It would be surprising if any government’s


policies didn’t meet these criteria. It’s an old political trick to try and pretend that one’s policies aren’t “political” but they are. Describing his critics as having the “bankrupt


ideology of a left wing establishment”, Mr Gove omits the fact that Conservative councillors have also criticised the academies programme. Even prime minister David Cameron has attacked


those who raised concerns about the blanket use of phonics as using “wrong-headed methods” – again, a patronising, dictatorial and rather dangerous attitude. The implication is that those who hold an alternative view are muddled or confused or not capable of thinking properly – not just “wrong” but “wrong- headed”. So, beware “enemies of the Gove”, Big Brother


and the Thought Police are watching you and monitoring your thought-crimes – it’s a “promise”.


• Philip Parkin is general secretary of education union Voice. Visit www.voicetheunion.org.uk


Poetry, song, music, history, politics, women, nature,


ale – the life of Robert Burns was richly varied, to say the least, and now Scotland has an educational centre to do his legacy justice. Since it reopened at the start of 2010, the Robert


Burns Birthplace Museum (RBBM), run by the national Trust for Scotland, has provided stimulating lessons in a whole range of subjects and topics from literature to history, politics, drama and art. Visitors get to see not only a wealth of fascinating


artefacts and manuscripts but also the cottage where Burns was born, the landscape he roamed and some of the sites featured in his best-known verse, notably Tam o’ Shanter. The main museum building now offers exciting interactive audio and visual features. “Tam is our big focus for secondary groups, as


it’s much longer and more complicated than is really suitable for primaries,” explained Esther Rutter, head of learning at RBBM. “also the themes are a bit more adult: drinking and ghosts and witches. “Today they (Donaldson’s) requested a slightly


different workshop because of their communication difficulties and what they had studied previously.” anne Bain, an English teacher at Donaldson’s,


explains that the outing was sponsored by the family of a partially deaf man, and huge Burns fan, who had died recently. “He left the money for the trip to take place. It’s


been very good. Many of them don’t have access to that language or poetry in their daily lives but it’s given them a historical perspective, an understanding of Scots culture and Burns’s place in the world.” Ms Rutter said she has been asked to send on the


Scots vocabulary for all the clothing they tried on, and this will generate follow-up work for the pupils in the coming days. “We often do a small play on a day in the life


of Burns and look at how children’s lives today are different to Burns’s in the 1750s and 1760s. “The other strand we do is much more topical,


looking at issues of politics, religion and environment, and how they inspired Burns to write and how they are still relevant today. We see manacles from a slave plantation, the pistols that Burns carried as an excise man, and guns belonging to a friend of Burns who was a hunter. “It’s a much more adult look at the poetry and how


you respond to things that aren’t simple. You might not feel one way or the other about them, you might not know how you feel about them. Then we finish off with a debate in the style of Burns’s Bachelors’ Club, where each team defends their viewpoints and takes a vote at the end.” Present day discussion might focus on the likes of


voting rights and whether Fairtrade goods should be compulsory. “They’re quite difficult and provocative questions,


but we encourage the kids to engage with them intellectually and we find they really enjoy it. It makes them realise these are real issues and their opinion is just as valid as anyone else’s.” RBBM’s broad international links are apt when


you consider Burns’s global stature not just among expatriated Scots but lovers of literature and history from across various cultures. For instance, a last week, Professor nigel Leask


of Glasgow University chaired an event looking at the legacy of Burns in anglo-Indian literature, to mark the 150th anniversary of India’s national poet, Rabindranath Tagore. This will be followed by an


Inspiration: Students step back in time at the recently re-opened Robert Burns Birthplace Museum in Scotland


exhibition on Burns and Tagore – Singing nations into Being, opening on January 29. Auld lang syne, of course, is sung all around the


world at Hogmanay but Burns is also one of the most widely translated authors, with versions of his work in everything from Japanese to Slovenian and ancient Greek and Latin. The centre has linked up with an elementary school


in Sun Valley California via Skype, performing songs and poems. “The teacher there is originally from alloway and got in touch. It was really successful and we are planning to do it again,” Ms Rutter said. Rather surprisingly, pupils have never visited from


English schools but Ms Rutter says this is something RBBM will consider encouraging. For Scottish pupils, a 75 per cent travel subsidy


towards the cost of coach hire up to £250 helps enormously. Group membership of the national Trust for Scotland costs between £20 and £80 a year for an entire school. This gives free entry to the centre as well as all other national Trust for Scotland properties, so that they just have to pay for workshops and guided walks. In a climate of severe cuts to public services


including education, it is heartening that the Burns centre is highly prized by the Scottish government as a resource for young people. alex Salmond, the first minister and a long-standing Burns lover, reopened the Education Pavilion in 2009. RBBM works with various agencies to develop the


Study Scots initiative, so “we are becoming almost part of the curriculum,” Ms Rutter said. “all of our workshops tie in with Curriculum for Excellence and we have a big range of suggested lesson plans, so teachers can see that and easily justify a visit.” Laura Macdonald, 25, started as a learning intern at


the centre in the autumn, with funding from Museums and Galleries Scotland and Skills for the Future, and a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund. She is in the ideal place to share her enthusiasm. a Glasgow University graduate in Scottish


Literature and Celtic Studies, she is also keen on history and drama, and, having shadowed members of the education department since the start of her post last autumn, is due to take sole charge of workshops of up to 25 children this month. “Heritage and culture have always been my passion


and I would love to keep passing that on to everybody else,” Ms Macdonald explained. “I’m still studying but I get to do so much else as well here. The museum is being brilliant about letting me get involved in all kinds of different things.” as a national Trust for Scotland flagship, and with


such qualified and committed staff in its learning team, the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum looks set to go from strength to strength.


SecEd • Sam Phipps is a freelance education journalist.


Further information www.burnsmuseum.org.uk


SecEd • January 19 2012


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