Glasgow pupils quiz education bosses on range of issues

All 30 of the city’s secondaries are taking part in Q&A forums with executive director Douglas Hutchison and other senior staff from the council.

Sixth-year students from high schools in the north east of the city were the latest to put their concerns to Mr Hutchison and Gerry Lyons, head of service for the area.

Topics ranged from the iPads rolled out to every high school pupil – “great when they work” – to what makes a good teacher – “patient, supportive, encourages independent thought”.

Christian, Dami and Layla put their questions to education bosses. (Image: Colin Mearns, Newsquest)

Mr Hutchison said: “The sessions with senior pupils from our secondary schools across the city have been inspiring and invaluable in gathering current pupil views.

“In Glasgow we strongly advocate the importance of pupil voice and look at ways to give our young people a platform to share their opinions.

“It has been a pleasure to host the forums and has given myself and the senior leadership team a lot to think about.”

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Taking part in the north east session were Christian Osaretin, school captain, and Martine Moffat, house captain, from Springburn Academy; Rachael Christie and Christ Lukusa, school captains from St Roch’s Secondary; St Andrew’s Secondary’s leadership team representative Layla Minhas and head boy Dami Oluwole; and Bruno Kalmar and Zahraa Anwar, house captains from Whitehill Secondary.

The pupils were asked what impressed them about their schools, and what could be improved upon.

Martine, 17, said: “The supported study sessions brought in during Covid have stayed and they are really helpful.”

Douglas Hutchison (Image: Colin Mearns, Newsquest)

Rachael added: “Having a wide range of subjects is really good, especially if you don’t want to choose academic courses only. Our school runs qualifications in barista training for example, and NPAs – national progression awards – in subjects like drama.”

Christian said: “I like the different ways of learning that are offered. For example, things like the top-up programmes in science, where you have to do a lot of your own research, help you prepare for university.”

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Bruno highlighted the lack of creative arts subjects, such as drama, in some schools as a concern, and expressed worries around how this year’s exam diet and assessment plans would be handled after the uncertainty and disruption of the last three years.

When asked to consider what made a good teacher, Zahraa said: “The best teacher is one who gives us independence and flexibility but is supportive. A good teacher understands that there is no 'one size fits all'.”

Dami added: “A good teacher is someone patient, who takes time to help us understand our subject and who cares about all the students they are teaching.”

Layla said: “There has been lots of disruption, because of Covid and now the strikes, so it’s easy to doubt yourself. It’s important to get feedback and reassurance from teachers about how you are doing.”

The group agreed there are “pros and cons” with the iPads given to all pupils to assist with learning.

Martine said: “There are lots of problems with them.”

Dami added: “There are pros and cons. They stop you from having to carry a lot of paperwork around but they do have lots of technical issues. When they work they are great.”