Christina spoke in the debate on 25 February.

“At the weekend, I watched with interest “The Politics Show”, because that is what all of us do at the weekend. Glenn Campbell was interviewing Colin Sutherland, head of North Berwick high school and chair of School Leaders Scotland, which is the new incarnation of the Headteachers Association of Scotland. If I recall Mr Sutherland’s comments correctly, he said that the Scottish Government had issued all the high-level documents for the curriculum for excellence, that the preparatory work had been done properly and that, as long as the implementation timescale was followed properly, we were, in his words, “good to go”.

“Mr Sutherland told all of us who had gathered around our tellies for our weekend fix of political news that the Scottish Government had already given teaching staff extra time to prepare for the introduction of the curriculum for excellence—extra in-service days and so on—and that headteachers were grateful for that consideration. He winged a wee warning or two across the bows, saying that we are now trying to peer into the future with the curriculum for excellence, that staff need to know where it is leading, that timelines must be adhered to and that qualifications must be well prepared. However, by and large, he was positive and upbeat about the implementation of the curriculum…

“As with everything else in these times of tightening fiscal belts, finances are a worry, but Mr Sutherland made clear on the BBC that implementing the curriculum for excellence should not cost money in most subjects and can be done at nearly neutral cost overall; he is very positive. Where there are funding requirements—I assume that the cabinet secretary will correct me if I am wrong—the Scottish Government will ensure that the resources that are needed to implement the curriculum will be made available…

“In my opinion, the curriculum for excellence is a good move for Scottish education. For the first time ever, Scotland will have a unified system from three to 18—a through-school experience to aid pupils’ learning. That is a prize for which it is worth competing and undertaking some change.”

Read the full debate here.