Policies - Education in Scotland

“Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6

“Children are God’s heritage” Psalm 127:3.  They are the future of the church and of society.  We need to invest in them for their own sake as well as for the good of the church and nation.  Since the time of John Knox’s vision of a school in every parish, Scotland has given free schooling to the youth of the nation which put Scotland in the forefront of intellectual thought to the present day.  Free tuition should continue into university training, not simply because we do not wish to promote the covetous, debt culture which hangs like a dead weight upon Scotland’s progress, but because we need to promote all the available talent in Scotland in the increasingly competitive global market of labour and ideas.  The Scottish Christian Party has from its beginning promoted the use of the talents of the Lord’s people, in their different callings, to bring the grace of the Gospel to bear upon the religious, spiritual, moral and social problems of our society.  This concept extends to civil society making use of all its talents to the collective good of Scotland.

1. Choice

The Scottish Christian Party believes that the biblical injunction to “train up a child in the way he should go” (Proverbs 22:6) is of critical importance and relevance to the well being of Scotland, both now and in the future. The rising tide of humanist, secular fundamentalism in Scotland has meant that the choice of education in line with parental beliefs and wishes is increasingly difficult to come by. The Christian community feels this most acutely.

The Scottish Christian Party believes that parents – not the state – should set the agenda for their children’s education, within educational parameters designed to prepare children for a positive contribution to Scottish society. For this to occur greater choice is required. At present only a limited number of families can afford the choice of private education. The Scottish Christian Party will seek to introduce an Education Voucher Scheme in Scotland, where voucher funding will follow a child. This would enable parents to spend the amount of money the government spends on each state school pupil at a school of their choice, provided the annual fees for that school were no more than 115% of the value of the voucher. Thus the voucher could not be used to subsidise a place at an expensive private school, but could,  for example, go into a school being set up by parents, a charitable foundation, a church, or be applied to the cost of home schooling. This will also promote more efficiency and accountability in school budgets through periodical review of the value of the voucher.

2. Sex Education

The Scottish Christian Party will call for sex education classes to be given only to children on a parental opt-in basis. The Scottish Christian Party will fight for the promotion in school of chastity before marriage, and faithfulness in marriage, as the safest and only sexual practice, as and when sex education is taught.

The Scottish Christian Party will also call for the re-instatement of Section 2A, thus calling for the end of the promotion and “the teaching in any maintained school of the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship.”

3. Religious and Moral Education

The Scottish Christian Party will replace Religious and Moral Education (RME) with more inclusive Religious, Moral and Philosophical Studies (RMPS) to reflect its subject content, with delivery by professionally trained teachers.

Through the Curriculum for Excellence (CfE), we will seek to encourage the professional development of RMPS through staffing and delivery by RMPS specialists.

We believe that “the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle to all, apt to teach, patient, in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves” 2Timothy 2:24,25. Therefore, through a review of
Continuing Professional Development (CPD) and Teacher Training of RMPS teachers, we will:
· encourage the vocation of Christian service in teaching RMPS;
· develop training to reflect the needs of Biblical teaching in such areas as Christian apologetics, philosophy, theology, Biblical studies, church history and comparative religion;
· introduce Christian pastoral care as a CPD opportunity for any teacher.

The wider school curriculum should (as opportunity arises in the CfE) reflect Scotland’s rich Christian heritage and foundation, as well as traditional Biblical values and beliefs, and develop the current scope for Bible reading and study.

We encourage Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education (HMIe) to promote these changes to training, staffing and delivery of RMPS through a Scottish Government appointed Inspector of RMPS.

Since we seek the welfare of all our young people, and to promote national consciousness of Christian beliefs and morals, we will seek to encourage voluntary, extra-curricular corporate Bible reading and study in all Scottish schools, including input from local churches or other Christian organisations.

We recognise that the Christian religion is not only mandatory in the curriculum, but as Scotland has a Christian constitution, as set out in the Monarch’s oath of allegiance and the Act of Union 1707, we believe that it is for the welfare of the country as well as individuals that Christian observance should be mandatory, allowing for conscientious objection, with no obligation to promote other faiths. The history curriculum should reflect Scotland’s rich Christian foundation and heritage while the science curriculum should include the evidence for creation and design in the universe.

4. Discipline

The Scottish Christian Party will allow school teachers to use reasonable force to maintain discipline in schools. Schools may elect to use supervised corporal punishment as a punishment of last resort.

5. Further Education

The Scottish Christian Party will link the funding of university courses to the medium and long-term needs of society and the economy. We will promote vocational training and sandwich courses as equally vital to a modern economy.

6. Tuition Fees

We are fundamentally opposed to the concept of student debt as a means of funding student education and we will seek to reverse this trend.  We will investigate a fairer balancing of funding student tuition fees from employers who benefit from graduates, Scottish graduates in employment, students from other UK countries, the EU and overseas, and the taxpayer, in discussion with the Universities to reflect the public and private benefits of further education. The length of university terms may need review to maximise the use of resources.

Christian Party Members of Parliament will:

  • support an Education Voucher Scheme in Scotland
  • reassess sex education classes to be given to children on a parental opt-in basis
  • replace Religious and Moral Education (RME) with more inclusive Religious, Moral and Philosophical Studies
  • re-evaluate discipline in classrooms
  • address the funding shortfall in further education with a more inclusive approach
  • oppose the concept of student debt as a means of funding student education

Christian Party Policies

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