At the Full Council Meeting of Fife Council it was decided to pull out of the Scottish National Standardised Assessments for Primary 1 Pupils. Fife Liberal Democrat Education Spokesperson Councillor James Calder has welcomed this decision. Cllr. Calder has said, Over the past few months both at the Scottish Parliament and Fife Council have made […]

At a meeting of the Education and Children’s Services Committee of Fife Council, the utilisation of overseas markets to help deal with the teacher shortage was reported on. Fife Liberal Democrat Education Spokesperson Councillor James Calder asked whether Brexit would impact this. Cllr. Calder has said, As overseas recruitment was mentioned as one of the […]

Despite a majority of Councillors voting to suspend SNSA assessments for P1s in Fife today at the Education and Children’s Services Committee, due to the votes of Religious Representatives along with SNP Councillors, the assessments will continue. Fife Liberal Democrat Education Spokesperson Cllr. James Calder has expressed disappointment at this. Cllr. Calder has said, It […]

At the Fife Full Council it was agreed that the Scottish Government to withdraw the requirement for P1 SNSA Assessments and that Fife should look to ending these tests. Fife Liberal Democrat Education Spokesperson James Calder led the debate and has welcomed the outcome. Cllr. Calder has said, After leading the debate today, I welcome […]

The Scottish Government will soon be rolling out the expansion of free nursery provision from the current 600 hours to 1140 hours. However while Fife Council anticipates the cost for Fife will be £37.369 million by 2021-22, the Scottish Government will only be allocating £36.810 million to Fife which Fife Liberal Democrat Education Spokesperson Councillor […]

I thought I would take a break from the usual local news to give an update from the Scottish Liberal Democrat Spring Conference that I attended over the weekend. From my own personal point of view, one of the highlights for me was the opportunity I took to put an amendment to an animal welfare […]

After a recent petition launched by Liberal Democrat Councillor for Dunfermline South James Calder that received over 300 signatures, he wrote to John Swinney’s MSP, the Scottish Education Secretary. Mr Swinney has now replied with a positive response. Councillor Calder has said, After the fantastic response to my petition I made a point of making […]

After my recent petition on the need  to replace High Schools in Dunfermline which attracted hundreds of signatures, I wrote to John Swinney to explain the strength of feeling in Dunfermline for a resolution to this problem. I was delighted that hundreds of people signed the petition, and I am hopeful we will see Scottish […]

With Vince Cable being made Liberal Democrat leader, I thought I would give this a mention (despite my normal reluctance to comment on national politics on this site). Vince Cable provides the experience and gravitas that is required by our politicians at such a turbulent time. With Brexit negotiations being handled disastrously so far by […]