Letter: Poor education

I understand, in 1850, 73 per cent of the Scottish male population was literate and, for generations, many within the educational structure have maintained the Scottish educational system was an example to the world.

Some, like myself, had doubts and questioned the drive of both a former First Minister and former Prime Minister to have half of pupils go to university when it was obvious, as the various reports at the time indicated, many (around 50 per cent) left primary school without the basic grasp of the educational building blocks - namely reading and arithmetic.

In the 1980/90s there was an earlier drive to make education a degree profession and to create, as some put it, "superior teachers". While not supporting this spurious claim, I now assume those seeking to become primary school teachers have successfully completed their education and secured this necessary degree.

And now, after all this expenditure of tax payers' money, this fallacy, namely educational excellence, has been debunked.

A report from the former HMI Education, Graham Donaldson, appears to indicate that those wishing to become primary school teachers will have to demonstrate their grasp of the very basic of building blocks - namely literacy and numeracy.

Alan McKinney

Beauchamp Road

Edinburgh

The main focus of media accounts of the Donaldson Report into teacher education (your report, 14 January) seems to be on the competence of some (not most) teachers in literacy and numeracy. Yet the basic requirements for entry to teacher training include a Higher in English and a Credit Standard Grade in mathematics. Are we now saying Higher English does not guarantee literacy and Credit maths does not guarantee numeracy?

R A Hawke

Craiglockhart Road

Edinburgh