Chamber and committees

Would they not benefit from coming to Glasgow instead of going to an outdoor centre?

Thank you.

I will continue on that theme. You have convinced me that residential education is a good idea, but can you convince me that it has to be residential outdoor education? That is a specific question. If we have time, I would also like to ask about the ages at which kids do things.

As an example, it has been suggested that it is valuable for young people to go to Kew gardens, but that might not count as residential outdoor education. Ms Smith and I have a friend who takes groups to the first world war battlefields. At the end of my first year—that is, S1—we went on a tour of the Highlands. I do not remember what we did, but I remember being at different places. I have a number of friends in Glasgow who have never been to Inverness, let alone a park. If we have £30 million a year to play with, should we not widen things out a bit, or does it have to be spent on residential outdoor education?

If someone said something that was not true, would the teacher or the school correct that?

Okay. That is good.

I am relatively new to the committee and some of the jargon slightly escapes me, so please forgive me if I am asking obvious questions. The leaving certificate and the Scottish diploma of achievement have already been mentioned by two of my colleagues. Are those exactly the same thing? We are using two terms, but are they the same thing?

Would that be entirely subjective?

That is helpful.

Professor Hayward, do you want to come back in on that point?

That reassures me that I am not completely misunderstanding.

The Government response seems to be one of concern about the risks of entrenching and exacerbating social inequity and an example was given of richer kids going on skiing holidays. We are being told that would not be the kind of thing that goes into the diploma of achievement. Is the Government response fair, or is it misunderstanding your intention? Can you expand a little on exactly what would be in the diploma? Would it be a book? Would it be 10 pages, 20 pages or just one page?