Portfolio Education Interview
Schooled in politics Keri Sutherland Education Correspondent
Coming from a family of educationalist has benefits
Ken Macintosh is a man with much on his mind. As the father of six children, aged from 1 to 12, mornings in the Macintosh home are “hectic”. “Tey’re all lovely, but it’s lively,” says the Labour MSP, whose charm is effortless given it’s late on a Friday afternoon in his Eastwood constituency. “I probably raise my voice more than I used to, which I get annoyed with myself for. Having six kids is tiring but it’s great.” He laughs when I suggest his family unit is a mini political maelstrom. Indeed politics and his family life have been intertwined ever since his first child, Douglas, was born five days before he was elected as an MSP in 1999. Twelve years on and six children later, Macintosh has been thrust from the backbenches into his current role as shadow Education Secretary. “It’s always a juggle, but that’s modern family life. I’m one of four and my wife Claire is one of three. I think we always wanted a large family,” he says. Much has been made of his success in holding
down a Tory seat, winning the second highest vote in Scotland in 2007. But is Macintosh prepared for the political hotbed that is Scotland’s education system? Having taken up the post after Malcolm Chisholm’s resignation this summer, he appears confident of his grasp of educational politics. Both his parents were headteachers. His father, Farquhar Macintosh, was a leading intellectual in Scottish education. As rector of the Royal High School, Edinburgh, he introduced the International Baccalaureate, the first school in Scotland to do so. His wife, Margaret Macintosh, was head of Drummond Community High and assistant head of Wester Hailes. “Tey were political in the sense that they were interested in politics,” says Macintosh. “My parents discouraged me from being a teacher on the basis that they didn’t want me to automatically become one. But when I was young, if anything, I thought that’s what I would be. Not that I have any regrets!” Tis legacy will go some way towards
preparing him for the challenges ahead – as will 44
www.holyrood.com 19 September 2011
and teachers – turning the private sector against the public. “What the SNP are doing is trading on the fact that the [teaching] profession was in a good position and they’re just going to allow it to decline. We’ve lost 4,000 teaching posts, which is unbelievable given their promises. “Probationers are allowed to start in the
profession with this fight over places, whether it be full time, supply or part time. We introduced the probationary scheme to smooth the way into the profession and gradually, what the SNP have done is turned it from a highly regarded scheme into one which is riddled with insecurity. It’s a bad start to your professional career.” He also refers to the SNP’s “ambitious
promises” to improve childcare so it is competitive with the best in Europe. “How are they going to do that exactly? If local government is getting cut, how exactly is this going to happen? I’m not sure what their ideology is when it comes to education – what is their end point?” So what exactly is Labour’s top priority?
Ken Macintosh
his media-savvy charm, cultivated in the 12 years he spent working as a BBC TV producer. But, regardless, the education outlook is bleak. Teachers have returned from their summer break to a smaller workforce and larger class sizes. And Macintosh highlights the problems he faces in tackling policy from a minority standpoint. He insists: “Te stance we want to take is to be a constructive opposition, not to oppose. We’re not used to being a minority opposition. Te rules have changed, and it’s going to be
Macintosh is keen to challenge the SNP’s controversial decision to set tuition fees at £9,000 head-on. Yet he concedes that Labour’s failure was to outline a clear policy on HE funding in good time before the Scottish elections. “We came to the conclusion that we published our manifesto too late for it to be the defining issue for us,” he says. “And of course, the SNP’s policy meant there wasn’t a defining line between them and us.” But he is quick to point out where the SNP
“We’re not used to being a minority opposition. The rules have changed, and it’s going to be more difficult to get our issues on the agenda”
more difficult to get our issues on the agenda. We have to turn the political spotlight on the Government. Tey’ve avoided the very, very specific promises made in the 2007 manifesto which they failed to deliver across the board in the education system.” When asked in what areas the SNP is
particularly vulnerable, he replies: “Public service
have gone wrong with implementation. He suggests the Government, instead of setting fees at £9k, should have been forced to set the fee level high enough to stop people “taking advantage of our system” but low enough to maintain a “cross-border flow”. He adds: “I think it’s discriminatory and it’s introducing a market to Scottish universities. In all cases, all institutions have a habit of following the money, so it will undoubtedly
corrupt the way decisions are taken in academic circles. Te potential is there for Scottish students to be squeezed out. Tis will entrench elitism. Basically, St Andrews and Edinburgh will become full of old Etonians.” While power over pensions is not devolved,
a dark cloud still looms over Holyrood with the EIS preparing to ballot teaching unions in
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