The Co-Leader of Forward, PoliticoBailey, has arrived at the University of Glasgow to give a small speech about their policies in regards to education.

Good evening Glasgow! It’s good to see you all here on an incredibly cold evening as we get closer to the Scottish Parliament polling day. As you probably know, Forward are standing again in this election - and I’ve come here to talk about our plan for education and how the Scottish Government can best support young people. When it comes to our policies for education and our future generations, we have tried to lay out some reforms that will change our institutions in this area for the better - and that will embrace the talents and potential of our young people.

Only a strong education system, from early years to further education will truly deliver for not only the present generation of young people, but future generations as well. It’s with that principle that I begin with our plans for early years education. This stage of education is one that is crucially important, and as the starting point for growth and development - will allow young people to reach their full potential later on in their educational journey. Therefore, we have pledged to increase investment and funding in this area across Scotland, to ensure that every child is afforded the same opportunities and support at this stage. Forward are also committed to an educational workforce plan in education more broadly, to ensure that this extra funding is supported with the staff to support every child across the country.

When it comes to secondary education, we are committed to enacting reforms in this area as well. This begins with a comprehensive plan for curriculum reform, ensuring that we improve education in areas such as civics and politics - allowing students who are reaching the end of their mainstream education to be able to learn skills and knowledge that will be important for them in their later life. Teaching them about the institutions in public life, our democratic processes and how to vote, and other life skills that would be invaluable learning experiences.

It is not just the curriculum where we would make changes if elected into Government, we would also support reforming our examination systems in ways that support students and make the process less burdensome where possible. In areas such as vocational qualifications in Further Education and moving away from a more traditional process of examination, there are changes that can still be made and we would consult on and review the best ways to move forward in the interest of young people.

Our plans for Higher Education are ambitious and something that we are proud to champion in this election. We believe strongly in unlocking opportunities for students and giving them a variety of options as to how they can pursue the careers and aspirations they are truly passionate about. As part of this, Forward would like the Scottish Government to pursue an Erasmus-style framework with Commonwealth countries. The Erasmus scheme is something that has been a huge success with students, and if we are able to build upon this scheme in other ways then we could truly revolutionise Higher Education.

I’d like to thank you all for listening to me today and our plans for Education - and I hope that it has allowed you to consider voting for Forward on Friday 15th December.

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