ELLC/S3/08/4/A
EDUCATION, LIFELONG LEARNING AND CULTURE COMMITTEE
AGENDA
4th Meeting, 2008 (Session 3)
Wednesday 20 February 2008
The Committee will meet at 10.00 am in Committee Room 5.
1. Arts and culture: The Committee will take evidence from—
Cindy Sughrue, Executive Producer, Scottish Ballet; Vicky Featherstone, Artistic Director, National Theatre of Scotland; Simon Woods, Chief Executive, Royal Scottish National Orchestra; Alex Reedijk, General Director, Scottish Opera; and Roy McEwan, Managing Director, Scottish Chamber Orchestra;
and then from—
Amanda Barry, Marketing and Public Relations Manager, Edinburgh International Book Festival; Seona Reid, Director, Glasgow School of Art; Robert Livingston, Director, HI~Arts; and Fiona Rogan, Committee Member, Voluntary Arts Scotland.
2. Petition: The Committee will consider its approach to the following newly referred petition—
PE1022 by Dr Murray Hill calling on the Scottish Parliament to debate the urgent need to make a step-change in strategy and vigorously promote foreign language learning and intercultural awareness in Scotland’s schools, colleges and universities.
Eugene Windsor Clerk to the Education, Lifelong Learning and Culture Committee Room T3.40 Tel: 0131 348 5204 Email: [email protected]
ELLC/S3/08/4/A
The following papers are attached for this meeting:
Agenda item 1
Cover note by the clerk ELLC/S3/08/4/1
Agenda item 2
Cover note by the clerk ELLC/S3/08/4/2
Agenda item 1 ELLC/S3/08/4/1
20 February 2008
EDUCATION, LIFELONG LEARNING AND CULTURE COMMITTEE
Arts and culture
Background
1. At its away day in summer 2007 the Committee agreed to hold a number of information gathering evidence sessions to inform the cultural part of its remit. The first of those sessions, on the topic of Scotland’s built heritage, was held on 16 January 2008. The next of these sessions, on the broad subject of arts and culture, will be held on 20 February 2008. A further session, on the subject of the creative industries, will be held at a subsequent Committee meeting.
2. It is thought that these sessions will help inform any possible Committee consideration of the proposed Scottish Government legislation on the formation and establishment of Creative Scotland, a new cultural development agency. The sessions will also help to inform the Committee’s consideration of cultural issues with regard to its future work programme.
Arts and culture evidence session
3. The purpose of the ‘arts and culture’ evidence session is to hear initial thoughts from some of the current organisations working in the sector and to develop a better understanding of important issues.
4. The first panel of witnesses in the ‘arts and culture’ session are representatives from the five national performing companies: • Scottish Ballet • National Theatre of Scotland • Royal Scottish National Orchestra • Scottish Opera • Scottish Chamber Orchestra
5. The five national performing companies were granted official status in April 2007 when the then Scottish Executive took over the sponsorship role in relation to the companies from the Scottish Arts Council. The national performing companies are therefore now directly funded by the Scottish Government.
6. The second panel of witnesses gathers a range of representatives from other organisations across Scotland, representing arts and culture outwith those represented by the national performing companies. They are: • Edinburgh International Book Festival • Glasgow School of Art • HI~Arts • Voluntary Arts Scotland
1 ELLC/S3/08/4/1 7. The Edinburgh Book Festival and Glasgow School of Art represent the areas of literature and fine art, design and architecture respectively. HI~Arts is an organisation which promotes and develops art in the highlands and islands and the Voluntary Arts Network Scotland provide a perspective from the voluntary sector.
8. Briefing papers from all the above witnesses can be found at Annexe A.
Nick Hawthorne Senior Assistant Clerk Education, Lifelong Learning and Culture Committee
2 ELLC/S3/08/4/1 Annexe A
Paper by Scottish Ballet
Introduction
Scottish Ballet produces world-class dance and learning opportunities designed to engage and excite diverse audiences. By presenting new and modern work, and unique interpretations of the classics that make them relevant to audiences today, the company strives to provide a focus and inspiration for dance in Scotland.
Scottish Ballet is Scotland’s national dance company. Originally formed by the distinguished choreographer Peter Darrell in 1957 as Western Theatre Ballet, the company transferred to Scotland in 1969 and was renamed Scottish Ballet.
Scottish Ballet has established an award-winning formula that is drawing tremendous acclaim from critics, peers and audiences alike, as well as invitations to perform across the world.
The Company presents a wide range of high-quality dance to audiences across Scotland, the UK and abroad, with strong classical technique at the root of all of its work. This includes new versions of classic pieces (e.g. The Nutcracker, Cinderella and The Sleeping Beauty), as well as seminal modern pieces from 20th century choreographers, signature pieces by living choreographers, and new commissions.
Scottish Ballet regularly tours to the large-scale venues in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Inverness, and undertakes small-scale touring across Scotland at least every two years. The company has established a relationship with Edinburgh International Festival, and large-scale work is also toured annually to other cities within the UK. There is demand from international promoters, particularly in Europe and North America, and plans are progressing to tour to China in 2009.
Scottish Ballet employs 80 people (75 full-time equivalents), including 36 full-time dancers. We use a freelance orchestra.
Education work
We partner our performance work with a comprehensive programme of education and outreach activities for people of all ages and abilities. This includes work in schools, community settings, and in the workplace and other lifelong learning contexts. We provide a wide range of participatory classes and workshops, as well as Continuing Professional Development for teachers, public lectures, demonstrations, and behind the scenes events.
Scottish Ballet runs a career-track training scheme for young people, called the Associates Programme, in order to identify and nurture talent. We are also currently working in partnership with the Royal Scottish Academy of Music & Drama (RSAMD) to pursue the possibility of establishing a higher-level vocational training course, thereby filling the critical gap in professional ballet training in Scotland.
3 ELLC/S3/08/4/1 Current activity
Scottish Ballet began 2008 by scooping the Award for Outstanding Classical Repertoire at the Critics’ Circle National Dance Awards (the “Oscars” of the UK dance world).
The Company is currently on tour with its new production of The Sleeping Beauty, which will have been presented 47 times, to nearly 50,000 people by the end of the 8-week tour.
During 2008/09, Scottish Ballet will present nearly 100 performances of four programmes of work to audiences across the UK:
• World premiere and four-week tour of a new large-scale production of Romeo & Juliet during May/June; • Small-scale tour during June/July to venues the length and breadth of Scotland, from the south-west to the north east, from the Borders to the Highlands, and including the Western Isles, Orkney and Shetland; • Triple bill programme, featuring the world premiere of Pennies from Heaven, touring large-scale venues for four weeks in September/October; • A revival of The Sleeping Beauty touring to large-scale venues across Scotland and the UK.
New Headquarters
Scottish Ballet is currently building its new headquarters at the Tramway arts centre in Glasgow. It is a new-build extension to this converted Victorian tram depot and is designed by award-winning Malcolm Fraser Architects, known for their sympathetic merging of historic buildings with new design (e.g. Dance Base, the Scottish Poetry Library, and the Scottish Storytelling Centre at John Knox House, all in Edinburgh).
The £11 million project is being delivered in partnership with Glasgow City Council and with support from the Scottish Government, the Scottish Arts Council and Scottish Enterprise Glasgow. The project has also won substantial support from a wide range of private trusts, foundations and benefactors. 95% of the funding has been secured and a public appeal is underway to raise the rest by the end of 2008.
The company will relocate in the spring of 2009, its 40th anniversary year.
Cindy Sughrue Executive Producer February 2008
4 ELLC/S3/08/4/1 Paper by the National Theatre of Scotland
Introduction The National Theatre of Scotland welcomes the opportunity of presenting information to the Evidence Session of the Scottish Parliament’s Education, Lifelong Learning and Culture Committee. This brief paper sets out a short background to the history of the Company, its vision and outline objectives and examples of its successes.
History The Cultural sector in Scotland had long been discussing the need for a National Theatre of Scotland. As the result of a set of proposals presented by the Federation of Scottish Theatre in July 2000, the Scottish Parliament’s Minister for Environment, Sport and Culture identified resources that would be made available to support the establishment of the National Theatre of Scotland. A Working Group was set up to deliver a feasibility study which looked at the model of the organisation, its likely development over three years and the role of the organisation The Group consulted widely with theatre organisations and individual artists and with a wide range of national and local bodies.
This report was delivered to the Scottish Executive in May 2001. In July of that year the Scottish Arts Council agreed to support a commissioning model for a National Theatre of Scotland. In May 2002 a Steering Group convened to advise on plans and timescale for the launch of the National Theatre of Scotland.
In September 2003, the Scottish Parliament’s Minister of Finance and Public Services, Andy Kerr MSP, announced the intention to fund the creation of National Theatre of Scotland, with an allocation of £7.5 million over two years, beginning 1 April 2004. Richard Findlay was appointed the first Chairman of the National Theatre of Scotland in December 2003. In early 2004, he appointed the first Board of Directors. Between April and June 2004, Richard Findlay visited seven towns in Scotland, from Dumfries to Stornoway to consult with members of the public and theatre practitioners.
Vicky Featherstone was appointed the first Artistic Director of National Theatre of Scotland.. and took up her position on 1st November 2004 in temporary office space in Glasgow City Centre from which – for the moment – the Company continues to operate, alongside its home base at The Bridge in Easterhouse.
Since its launch in February 2006, the National Theatre of Scotland has been involved in creating 59 productions in 89 different locations. With no building of its own, the Company takes theatre all over Scotland and beyond, working with existing and new venues and companies to create and tour theatre of the highest quality. It takes place in the great buildings of Scotland, but also in site-specific locations, airports and tower blocks, community halls and drill halls, ferries and forests. The Company’s innovative Learn Department creates a pioneering programme of events and projects that puts artists and theatre practitioners at the heart of communities throughout Scotland.
The present day: Vision and Outline Objectives
Vision To place a diverse and excellent theatre at the heart of cultural life in Scotland and be recognised for making a long-lasting and wide-reaching contribution to Scottish culture.
5 ELLC/S3/08/4/1 Outline Objectives The National Theatre of Scotland is the only major cultural institution to be created since Scottish devolution and the organisation welcomes the responsibility that comes with that to support, where appropriate, the guiding principles of its key stakeholders.
In the terms of reference from the then Scottish Executive to the original Working Party, the following factors were to be taken particularly into account:
• To maximise the extent to which the company is able to develop a quality repertoire originating in Scotland and relevant to Scotland. • To bring a Scottish sensibility to bear on theatrical works from other countries and cultures. • To strongly consider that the company will be in a position to present showcase work at the Edinburgh International Festival (EIF) and also the potential for involvement in other festivals internationally.
The importance of partnership and collaboration is fundamental to the National Theatre of Scotland’s vision. It is only through this spirit of partnership and collaboration, and in working with the existing theatre community, that National Theatre of Scotland can deliver the original ideals expressed by the Federation of Scottish Theatre and the Working Party of:
“enhancing and energising the Scottish theatre scene, enabling a higher profile for the achievements of Scottish theatre, initiating and commissioning works of excellence to tour on a variety of scales both here and abroad, contributing to education, developing a quality repertoire originating in Scotland which will raise the profile of theatre as an artform and set a reliable standard of excellence.”
Successes National Theatre of Scotland has already made a significant impact on audiences and artists in Scotland and beyond. The Company has played to over 220,000 people in the last two years, has performed in venues in virtually every part of Scotland and has collaborated with dozens of local authorities and the Scottish Government’s Determined to Succeed programme to bring Learn activity into communities the length and breadth of the country. The scope of its successful work can be seen from this very brief list:
• The radical opening programme of HOME – 10 pieces of theatre performed simultaneously across Scotland in February 2006 as the Company’s inaugural productions. • The Wolves in the Walls – an enormously well-received adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s book for children of the same name. The Wolves in the Walls was invited to perform in New York in Autumn 2007. • Black Watch – the sensationally acclaimed play by Gregory Burke. Black Watch has now won countless awards, is still on an international tour, part-funded by the Scottish Government, and has been described by the First Minister as “worth a thousand trade fairs.” • Many successful co-productions including with His Majesty’s Theatre in Aberdeen (Tutti Frutti), The Edinburgh International Festival (The Bacchae and Realism), the Citizens Theatre in Glasgow and Lyceum in Edinburgh (Mary Stuart, Six Characters in Search of an Author), Dundee Rep (Peer Gynt), the Belgian theatre company Victoria (Aalst) and Wee Stories (The Emperor’s New Kilt). • A high-profile production of The Elgin Macbeth performed by a community and professional cast of eighty in the grounds of Elgin Cathedral.
6 ELLC/S3/08/4/1 Paper by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra
The Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Scotland’s national symphony orchestra based in Glasgow, performs a wide range of orchestral music at a world-class standard to audiences across Scotland and around the world. These activities are supported by an innovative programme of outreach work that brings music and musicians into schools and communities across the country.
The Orchestra has been in existence for 115 years and plays a central and much-loved role in the cultural fabric of Scotland. Having a renowned symphony orchestra has long been regarded as an important marker of the cultural life of a nation, and serves to significantly enhance the quality of life of its citizens.
The RSNO Society is a registered charity and a limited company, owned by its employees. The Society has 85 full-time players and 25 staff, and is supplemented by a volunteer adult chorus of 150 and a Junior Chorus of 300. The RSNO Society is governed by a Board of 15, consisting of 5 player directors, 9 elected directors and the Chief Executive Director.
The RSNO’s annual budget is approximately £6.5m, funded through a combination of direct support from the Scottish Government, local authorities, ticket sales, recordings, hired engagements and fundraised income.
The RSNO’s rehearsal and administrative base is in Glasgow, although the orchestra operates a dual concert residency in Glasgow and Edinburgh, with its regular series in Edinburgh on Fridays and Glasgow on Saturdays. In addition the RSNO has series in Dundee, Perth, Aberdeen and Inverness. Each year the RSNO promotes a diverse season of concerts, ranging from standard symphonic repertoire, themed popular, big band, musicals, jazz and traditional Scottish collaborations, plus commissioning and performing new works. The orchestra regularly plays in England, and recent years have seen appearances in London, Leeds, Carlisle and Newcastle.
The RSNO is committed to reaching as wide an audience as possible, and audience development and engagement lies at the heart of the organisation’s thinking and activity. Creative and accessible programming, innovative marketing campaigns and affordable pricing have been central to the RSNO’s recent work with entry level concerts using a flat price structure (of only £10 for some series). In the 2006-07 season prices were reduced considerably, with a new lowest price of £10.
Uniquely to the RSNO, all under-16s attend for free when accompanied by an adult, and this programme will be dramatically expanded and promoted during the 2008-9 season in collaboration with a major corporate sponsor. Under-26s can now purchase tickets for only £5 using a special card.
With award-winning recordings and overseas tours, the Orchestra goes far to enhancing Scotland’s reputation as a vibrant cultural nation. In 2008 alone the orchestra will visit Bielefeld, Baden-Baden, Essen, Regensburg, Vienna, Zagreb, Madrid, Pamplona, Zaragoza, Murcia, Leon and Salamanca.
The RSNO’s Education Department aims to give many children and adults in Scotland their first experience of live orchestral music. Committed to the same high standards the RSNO delivers in its regular concerts, the programme continues to develop musical talent and appreciation with people of all ages and abilities throughout Scotland in some of the
7 ELLC/S3/08/4/1 biggest projects to be undertaken in the UK, to ensure the continuation of music as an integral part of life for future audiences.
Major changes have occurred in the RSNO since 2002. A new chair, Tom Thomson, put in place a new Board in 2002, followed by the arrival of Music Director Stéphane Denève and Chief Executive Simon Woods in 2005. In the last two years the RSNO has initiated creative new concert programmes, launched a new web presence (recently voted the 2nd best UK orchestra website), dramatically increased fundraised income, increased ticket sales by 40%, increased regular subscribers by 90% in some venues, achieved new strands of fundraised income in six figures, increased its education work, renewed its staff team, doubled its presence on national radio, and started a new era of foreign touring. It has been widely lauded in the press both for the quality of its music making under Stéphane Denève’s leadership, and for its innovative and forward-looking approach towards innovation and audience development.
The RSNO is currently engaged in a wide-ranging full organisation strategic planning process which will chart the organisation’s vision and activity for the next five years. The plan will be complete in late spring 2008.
Simon Woods Chief Executive February 2008
8 ELLC/S3/08/4/1 Paper by Scottish Opera
Scottish Opera, which was formed by Sir Alexander Gibson and a group of close friends, first performed on the 5th June 1962 in the Kings Theatre, Glasgow. Sir Alex Gibson went on to lead the company until 1986.
Scottish Opera has 4 main strands of activity:
1. Large Scale Opera (presented as the composer intended) is performed in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Inverness.
In total approximately 42 high quality performances of 4 opera productions are staged every year along with 12 opera ‘unwraps’ to a total of approximately 49,000 people across the 4 main centres in Scotland
2. Reduced Scale Touring – we send out 3 tours to present approximately 50 performances of reduced scale touring opera throughout Scotland every year from Shetland to the Borders. We have been actively touring since 1967 and aim to visit each of our touring venues every 2 years or so, playing to 9,900 people across Scotland. In recent tours, over 85% of our performances have sold out
The touring activity is, in many instances, the only live professional arts experience in the more remote communities that we visit.
3. Education – founded in 1971, we have the longest established Education Department of any European Opera Company. It reaches out to 15,200 children as active participants each year with a wide variety of opera based activity. This includes;
• Pre School • Youth residencies • New composition • Primary schools • Programmes for pupils with Additional Learning Needs • Vocal coaching master classes for Higher Music pupils • Secondary programme linked to reduced scale touring productions • Supporting A Curriculum For Excellence in all of these areas
May 2008 sees delivery of our 3rd production aimed at very youngest members of the community. A key priority since 2002 has been the development of high quality live performance as well as providing support for teachers in the delivery of the Early Years curriculum. Celebrating Scotland’s natural and environmental identity, Bubble McBea looks at the people and creatures that inhabit the Scottish coastline – above and below the water. This year, Bubble McBea will tour as part of the main company’s presence in Inverness, Aberdeen and Edinburgh and been seen by 4,500 children, their teachers and families.
Autumn 2008, we launch a brand new initiative Teaching the Teachers – in partnership with 3 Local Authorities (North, East Ayrshire and South Lanarkshire) and the faculty of Education, Glasgow University. This programme aims to provide a new way of supporting student as well as newly qualified teachers in the teaching methodology that underpins A Curriculum for Excellence. Through a mentoring programme involving a range of Scottish Opera artists and animateurs and these young professionals at the
9 ELLC/S3/08/4/1 outset of their careers, we can encourage them - and by extension – their pupils, to interact on a number of levels with Scotland’s largest arts organisation: accessing Scottish Opera through performances, workshops, master classes and professional career development opportunities. In total around 40,000 people of all ages: adults, young people, children attend our events, performances, workshops and Unwraps and generally interact with Scottish Opera.
4. New Work: Five: 15 Operas made in Scotland. This new initiative is part of a 4 year Research and Development Strategy designed to explore and encourage the creation of new opera in Scotland. This project has attracted a great deal of worldwide attention already due to the calibre of the creative teams involved. Along with sold out performances in Glasgow and Edinburgh, it is planned to take this project to Brussels in May 2008 under the aegis of the Scottish Government and its vision for a confident and articulate Scotland.
Five: 15 serves as part of a longer term (10 year) vision to see Scottish Opera presenting a new full-length opera every 12 to 18 months: Also, launching in 2008, in partnership with Learning Teaching Scotland, an education pilot programme for 5:15 is being developed that will lead the way for all of Scotland’s arts organisations to utilise the opportunities afforded by the GLOW initiative.
Scottish Opera is stable, solvent and very much embracing a positive future. We continue to present opera of a very high standard that is recognised as such by critics and our audience.
Turnover for the 2007/08 Financial Year is expected to be £10,860,000 with Scottish Opera in receipt of £8,290, 000 from the Scottish Government and earned income expected to be £2,570,000 of which net box office contributes 40% and funds raised from the corporate sector / private individuals contributing 36%.
Over the past 2 financial years the success of our fundraising activity (in particular) has reduced our dependence on the public purse from 83% to 75% when expressed as a percentage of overall income.
Scottish Opera currently has a core staff of 120 including the 53 strong Orchestra of Scottish Opera. Along with the 120 full time personnel, we employ a vast range of freelance staff on fixed term contracts ranging from principal artists, creative teams (inc directors, conductors, and designers), chorus members, stage and lighting technicians, costume, prop and scenery makers, wigs staff, scenic artists and additional musicians.
Given that the average opera production requires at least 100 people to help tell these magnificent stories and often as many as 180 folk (of which 110 could be freelance) are involved (by the time we add up to 90 in the orchestra, 8 -10 principal singers, between 20 - 42 singers in the chorus and possibly a further 40 to 50 backstage personnel) its not surprising that we have an additional full time equivalent staff of 50 making a total of 170 personnel which makes Scottish Opera one of the largest performing arts organisations in Scotland.
We have deployed a range of new initiatives over the past 2 years to ensure we are well represented throughout the many communities of Scotland. These include:
10 ELLC/S3/08/4/1 • Five: 15 Operas Made in Scotland – 5 new short operas to be premiered on 29th February 2008 • Opera Unwraps for main stage operas since 2006 • Under 26 / £10 campaign – which has led to a 700% increase in young people attending opera in Glasgow in 2007. • Opera Co-production with the 2008 Edinburgh Festival • Opera Co-production and active mentoring programme with the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama since 2006 • Singing in the Park – 10 venues across the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park in the winter of 2007 • Merchant City Festival Aria Adventures since 2006
A new chairman, Colin McClatchie was appointed on 1 February 2008, and new Music Director Francesco Corti was appointed on 1 August 2007. We continue to enjoy a strong and positive working relationship with the Scottish Government and the National Performing Companies Unit. We are quietly confident that Scottish Opera plays a confident and genuine role in the arts landscape of Scotland – not only as part of the National Cultural identity of Scotland but also as a key player in the creative sector delivering its art form for everyone in Scotland.
Alex Reedjik General Director February 2008
11 ELLC/S3/08/4/1 Paper by Scottish Chamber Orchestra
SCO FACT FILE
• The Scottish Chamber Orchestra was founded in 1974
• The Orchestra has a membership of 37 self employed musicians but is highly flexible, varying in size from a small chamber ensemble to as many as 60 players for certain repertoire.
• The SCO performs music spanning four centuries ranging from the baroque to new commissions.
SCO CONCERTS – SCOTLAND
• The SCO gives over 100 concerts a year, including Scotland, the rest of the UK and abroad.
• The core of the orchestra’s work is a 23 week Winter Season with concerts in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen and St Andrews. Concerts are also undertaken during the Season in Ayr, Dumfries, Perth (a joint series in collaboration with the RSNO and the BBC SSO) and Inverness.
• Within the last 10 years the SCO has performed in around 50 towns and cities in Scotland. Many other communities have also been visited by chamber ensembles or by musicians undertaking educational projects.
• For over twenty years, the SCO has toured the Highlands for three weeks every year, taking full orchestra and ensemble concerts to communities throughout the North.
• Since 2003 the SCO has extended its summer rural touring to include an annual tour of the South of Scotland with concerts and associated education work.
• In 2007 a new Central Scotland tour was initiated, taking the orchestra to population centres across central Scotland but outside Edinburgh and Glasgow.
• In the Summer of 2007 the SCO undertook 23 concerts from Stranraer and Kelso in the south to Stornoway and Shetland (the first professional orchestra in 15 years) in the North.
• 2007-8 saw the introduction of the new CL@SIX series, bringing popular early evening concerts to the heart of Edinburgh.
• The SCO appears regularly at the Edinburgh International Festival, St Magnus Festival in Orkney, and East Neuk Festival in Fife.
• The Orchestra plays before an audience of over 250,000 every year at the Bank of Scotland Fireworks Concert which closes the Edinburgh International Festival, an event created by the Orchestra itself 26 years ago.
12 ELLC/S3/08/4/1 SCO CONCERTS – UK
• The SCO is a frequent guest orchestra at BBC Proms in London as well as to major music Festivals such as Aldeburgh and Cheltenham. The orchestra has also appeared regularly at the Barbican in London.
SCO CONCERTS – OVERSEAS
• The SCO is one of Scotland’s most travelled cultural ambassadors with regular visits to major centres in England, Europe and Scandinavia and tours to North America, South America, the Middle East and Far East over the last 15 years alone. The Orchestra represented Scotland in the celebrations in the run up to the hand over of Hong Kong in 1997 and plans to visit India in 2009.
• In the 2007/8 financial year the SCO will give 23 concerts in tours of Europe.
SCO EDUCATION
• One of the pioneers in Orchestral Education work, the SCO mounts around 60 projects a year throughout Scotland. In 2007/8 this work took place from the Scottish Borders to Shetland and the Western Isles. Projects take in both the formal and informal sectors including work from nursery through to university and with community groups, residential care homes and planned work with the Scottish Prison Service. The programme also includes cross art form and cross cultural work.
• For at least one week in the annual schedule, the full orchestra is dedicated to a large- scale education project
• The educational achievements of the SCO were recognised in 1991 when it received the Prudential Award for the Arts. The SCO has also been commended several times by Arts and Business for its work with business sponsoring educational programmes.
SCO COMMISSIONS
• The SCO has commissioned over 100 new works during its history, the majority from Scottish composers. Many of these commissions have been recorded by the Orchestra or been taken on tours outside Scotland.
• The Orchestra has had special relationships with composers such as James MacMillan, Sally Beamish and Peter Maxwell Davies, the last of these relationships creating the 10 Strathclyde Concertos, written specially for soloists from within the SCO.
SCO RECORDINGS
• The Orchestra has made well over 150 recordings, ranging from baroque to contemporary Scottish music, in its short history, many to critical acclaim, including 3 Grammy Awards nominations in 1998. While working with many UK and international labels, the SCO has established a special partnership with the Glasgow-based Linn Records.
13 ELLC/S3/08/4/1 SCO FUNDING
• Core public funding is received from the Scottish Government and the cities of Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen.
• The SCO is sponsored by cash and in kind by more than 25 companies, the largest sponsor being the Bank of Scotland for the Bank of Scotland Fireworks Concert.
• The SCO is supported by more than 250 individuals through the Patrons’ Scheme, Mozart Club, Player Chair Programme and International Touring fund donating from £10 to £50,000 per year.
• The SCO receives financial support from almost 60 trusts and foundations for a wide range of projects including SCO Education
Roy McEwan Managing Director February 2008
14 ELLC/S3/08/4/1 Paper by the Edinburgh International Book Festival
Background
The Edinburgh International Book Festival began in 1983 and is now a key event in the August Festival season, celebrated annually in Scotland's capital city. Biennial at first, the Book Festival became a yearly celebration in 1997. It takes place in a specially created tented village in Charlotte Square Gardens where visitor numbers exceed 200,000 each year. The Book Festival has grown rapidly in size and scope to become the largest festival of its kind in the world, a vibrant meeting place for the greatest international writers and thinkers and the finest Scottish authors. In its first year the Book Festival played host to just 30 'Meet the Author' events. Today, the Festival programmes over 700 events, which are enjoyed by people of all ages.
In 2001 Catherine Lockerbie, the Book Festival's fifth director, took the Festival to a new level by developing a high profile debates and discussions series which is now one of the festival's hallmarks. Each year writers from all over the world gather to become part of this unique forum in which audience and author meet to exchange thoughts and opinions on some of the world's most pressing issues. Running alongside the general programme is the highly regarded RBS Children's Programme, which has grown to become a leading showcase for children's writers and illustrators. Incorporating workshops, storytelling, panel discussions, author events and book signings, it now ranks as the world's premier books and reading event for young people.
The Book Festival receives 17% of its income from public funds (15% Scottish Arts Council, 2% City of Edinburgh Council). An unusually high proportion (83%) of income is self-generated: 33% from the box office, 34% from sponsorship and donations and 16% from booksales and other trading income. The Edinburgh International Book Festival is a VAT registered company limited by guarantee and has charitable status.
Business planning and objectives
In 2007 the Book Festival undertook a significant business planning process with the support of Event Scotland, which identified the challenges facing the Book Festival over the next five years. The resulting business plan is designed to address these and to ensure it retains its place as a world-leading literary event. The Book Festival’s core objectives are:
1. to be a world-leading literary showcase through an annual programme of the highest literary and artistic quality that brings leading thinkers and writers together both to be inspired and to inspire their peers and the reading public. 2. to build the artistic programme around the joint emphasis of: a. international writers and thinkers, introducing authors unheard in Scotland. b. providing the single most important annual showcase for Scottish literature, authors and publishing. 3. to enhance the Festival’s status and reputation through year-round activity, increased collaboration with Edinburgh UNESCO City of Literature, a virtual presence and regular communication with audiences and stakeholders. 4. to stimulate, fire the imagination and broaden the horizons of children, young adults, new readers and others unaccustomed to the written word. 5. to deliver a literary festival of excellence and enhance the Festival experience for existing and new audiences, authors, sponsors and the general public.
15 ELLC/S3/08/4/1 Yearly programme
707 Book Festival events took place in 2007 and attracted an average audience of nearly 80%. 45% of events sold out. 814 authors and participants from more than 40 different countries across the world took part including 200 from Scotland. The programme is deliberately broad with the twin emphasis of Scottishness and internationalism.
Events range from debates on climate and the environment, terrorism, child soldiers, stem cell research and immigration through to writing workshops and graphic novel masterclasses, new fiction and acclaimed international writers. The RBS Children’s Programme offers nearly 200 events for babies and children along with events created especially for teenagers and younger adults – an area the Book Festival is focusing on developing further. In 2007 nearly 25,000 children and families attended events.
80 events form the RBS Schools Programme and include outreach events. In 2007 nearly 15,000 pupils from 134 schools across Scotland attended. RBS Gala Day, created especially for primary schools, saw 2,598 pupils at 12 different events. The Book Festival’s Transport Fund subsidised travel costs for 111 schools, enabling attendance. As well as author events, there are many creative and interactive workshops where children can learn how to create and illustrate stories and hone writing skills, plus events for teachers and practitioners which address key issues in education and literacy. The feedback regularly gathered from school children, teachers and authors has led to the continual development of the programme and the information provided to teachers and school librarians. It ensures the range of events at the Book Festival remains relevant and is used as a valuable learning resource by schools across Scotland.
The Book Festival’s reach extends beyond August and Edinburgh through online activity. Future plans are to develop this much further. Currently 74 recordings of Book Festival events in audio, video and transcription are freely available on www.edbookfest.co.uk to everyone, anytime, anywhere.
In the interests of accessibility, ticket prices across all events have been frozen at the same low level for 7 years and over 100 free events are available.
Bookshops
The Book Festival runs 3 bookshops: The Bookshop, The RBS Children’s Bookshop (dedicated solely to children) and The Signing Tent. Over 60,000 books are sold each year. Of these, around 33% are children’s books and 25% titles of Scottish interest. Over 7,000 different titles are on display including books in languages other than English, books for younger people (16-24s) and reading materials for people with sight disabilities. The bookshops are an important outlet and showcase for independent Scottish publishers and a vital contributor to revenue.
Lifelong learning
By programming the widest range of events for people of all ages and backgrounds the Book Festival offers authors, visitors and staff some of the best opportunities to learn about different cultures, to challenge preconceptions and to participate in discussions about issues that affect all of us and the way we live. The Book Festival aims to provide an enriching and memorable experience and help instil a love of reading and writing for life. Strong links have been forged with organisations such as Communities Scotland, Careers
16 ELLC/S3/08/4/1 Scotland, YouthLink, CLAN, Save the Children, the Scottish Youth Parliament, Young Scot and the Scottish Adult Learning Partnership amongst others, to encourage and assist audiences in their personal reading journeys and to further the geographical and social reach of the Book Festival. The Book Festival is an advocate of continued professional development and as such provides workshops (run in association with the Scottish Book Trust) to train and support authors on presentation skills development, with a focus on public appearances at events such as festivals. An annual training budget is allocated to all Book Festival staff who are encouraged to extend their knowledge and skills in areas of interest.
The broader context
Literary life in Edinburgh and further afield continues to be enhanced by the pioneering designation of Edinburgh as the world’s first UNESCO City of Literature – a permanent and inclusive title. The Book Festival played a central role in securing the title and now works actively in support of its initiatives.
2007 saw new awareness of the need for sustained and strategic investment in Edinburgh’s major festivals. The publication of the Thundering Hooves report in 2006 starkly highlighted the increasingly competitive arena in which festivals now operate. Other cities in the UK and internationally are investing heavily in festivals and culture as an engine of social and economic improvement, urban renewal, tourism revenue and more. Festivals Edinburgh, the association of festivals, now works strategically and collaboratively on overarching matters of mutual interest (including investment in programming and infrastructure needs in the city). A major international marketing survey has been commissioned and a high level Festivals Forum, with representatives from government, funding bodies and business has been established. There is now a much fuller recognition that Edinburgh’s festivals are a critically important national and international asset to the capital and the country, economically as well as artistically.
The Edinburgh International Book Festival straddles the two interconnecting but distinct worlds of literature and of live festivals. Other smaller book festivals throughout Scotland continue to start up and to thrive: in 2007 there were nearly 30. The Literature Forum is a collaborative national association of which the Edinburgh International Book Festival is a founding member, now representing a wide range of literary organisations from across the country. It aims to share knowledge and best practice, to raise the profile of literature and the languages of Scotland, to lobby the Scottish Government and influence agendas and policy. Literature’s fundamental role in underpinning much other activity, and in being central to education, is a key issue. Throughout 2007 work continued on the merging of the Scottish Arts Council and Scottish Screen to form the future new cultural funding body, Creative Scotland. The Literature Forum seeks to ensure that the unique role of literature is fully recognised and properly represented within the new structures.
17 ELLC/S3/08/4/1 Paper by the Glasgow School of Art
Glasgow School of Art: Higher Education in the Creative Disciplines
The Glasgow School of Art (GSA) was founded in 1845 as the first Government School of Design outside London. It was established to serve the needs of the then industries of Glasgow and it has continued to play a major role in the economic and cultural life of the City (and Scotland) since. Glasgow is now considered to be one of the most important centres for the visual arts in Europe and a major centre for music with bands like Travis, Franz Ferdinand emerging from the student union at the GSA. Glasgow has the largest creative industries sector outside London and the South East and is home to the majority of Scotland’s design agencies.
The Glasgow School of Art is a university level institution providing education (from undergraduate to PhD) and research in architecture, design and fine art. It has 1700 students, of whom approximately 25% come from firth of the United Kingdom, and has the lowest student drop out rates in Scotland. At the last Research Assessment Exercise in 2001, GSA was the largest art and design research community outside London.
GSA is highly successful as the following selected highlights illustrate:
• Listed in Design Week’s Hot Fifty for people and organisations making a contribution to design beyond expectation • School of Architecture voted top School in Scotland (third or fourth in the UK) every year for the last four years by the Architects Journal • Students in the past three years have won the Grand Prix top student award at the Royal Society of Arts; the Royal Incorporation of Architects top undergraduate prize; 20% of the Best in Show Awards at the Design and Art Direction Global Student Awards, the largest number won by any single institution; the Scottish Institute of Enterprise National Business Plan Competition in 2004,2006,2006 pitched against all Scottish Universities and every discipline; the Young Designer Silversmith of the Year for the third year in succession; the Nationwide Mercury Prize Art Competition for the second year in succession • 5 out of 6 artists representing Scotland at the Venice Biennale in 2007 were GSA graduates. In 2005 all the artists were GSA graduates as were the artists representing Ireland and Finland. • GSA graduates - Douglas Gordon and Simon Starling - won the Turner Prize in 1996 and 2007 with a third, Nathan Coley, short listed this year.
The graduates of the four art and design schools, the six architecture schools, the conservatoire of music and drama and the creative industries programmes being offered in many of Scotland’s new Universities underpins a healthy cultural and creative industries sector in Scotland.
The Creative and Cultural Industries in Scotland
In the week when the Department for Culture, Media and Sport in the Westminster Government publishes its long awaited Green Paper on the future of the Creative Industries, the British Council publishes its draft Arts Strategy and a month after Sir Brian McMaster’s report on Supporting Excellence in the Arts was published to unanimous acclaim, it must be time for Scotland to reflect on its own support for creative and cultural industries.
18 ELLC/S3/08/4/1 The Westminster Government’s ambition is to make the UK the world’s creative hub and the Green Paper will outline how it intends to achieve that in England and Wales. Ambitious schemes include a new £200m national film centre; a new Youth Culture Trust ensuring five hours of culture per week for children and young people; an academy of the creative industries for 14 to 25 year olds; promoting conservatoires for art and design plus a host of initiatives to support creative businesses.
The British Council Arts Strategy acknowledges that the UK is a major hub of the global creative economy and places it as one of three overarching strategies for the British Council worldwide.
Brian McMaster’s inspiring report Supporting Excellence in the Arts recommends a move away from arts funding based on box ticking accountability and a move towards innovation and risk taking, with free entry to all publicly funded arts organisations for one week.
These three reports signal:
• A recognition of the crucial importance of the arts and creative industries to the UK economy and to our standing in the world • A clear statement of ambition - to make the UK the world’s creative hub - backed up with the strategy and resources to make it happen • Education and excellence at the heart of that ambition • A cross cutting approach involving all Government departments and a range of external agencies
How might Scotland respond?
• We have creative talent pouring out of our universities and colleges; we are second only to London and the South East in the scale of our creative industries; our cities are acknowledged international cultural hubs. • An ambition for Scotland to be, not only the main creative hub in the UK outside London but also one of Europe’s main creative hubs is not unrealistic but it needs leadership from the Scottish Government • To achieve it we would need o A clear commitment to being a more creative and cultural Scotland o An overarching creative industries strategy o An influential champion within Scottish Government o Implementation strategies which are cross cutting across Government Departments o Alignment of all Scottish Government agencies to delivering the ambition: the Scottish Government Economic Strategy prioritises creative industries but Scottish Enterprise concerns itself only with Digital Media: the future role of Creative Scotland remains unclear. o Education placed firmly at the heart of the creative industries, the creative economy and the cultural life of Scotland
Seona Reid Director February 2008
19 ELLC/S3/08/4/1 Paper by HI~Arts
HI~Arts, and the Arts sector in the Highlands and Islands
‘There is a high level of arts activity in the Highlands and Islands, and this is increasing, to the demonstrable overall social economic and cultural benefit of the area.’ That is an extract, not from a press release for the 2007 year of Highland Culture, but from the introduction to the Arts Strategy launched by Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) in 1993. That strategy was a key outcome of a predecessor of Highland 2007, namely the Hi- Light Year of the Arts, organised and delivered by HIE in 1991.
Another legacy of that year was a partnership between HIE and the Scottish Arts Council to build on the year’s achievements by funding HI~Arts – an independent charitable company which HIE had established to support aspects of the HI~Light year – to provide expert support to the Local Enterprise Company network. HI~Arts might then have remained no more than a small advisory unit but for the introduction of the National Lottery, which presented a powerful opportunity to redress the perceived imbalance in arts funding between the Highlands and Islands and the rest of Scotland.
As an independent company, HI~Arts was well placed to develop its own ambitious Lottery projects, and these included the introduction of the UK’s first mobile cinema service, an integrated development programme for the music industry, and an innovative approach to linking artists with the pre-school child-care sector. But, more importantly, HI~Arts was also able to advise and support a huge range of Lottery applications from across the Highlands and Islands. At the height of Lottery funds, the Highlands and Islands were bringing forward projects which, together, attracted well above the per capita average of Lottery funding for the area’s population base.
Today HI~Arts continues to be contracted by HIE to deliver an ongoing programme of arts promotion and development. It has also been successful in securing Foundation funding status from the Scottish Arts Council. HI~Arts operates through three areas of activity:
• Delivery of direct services: a substantial website (www.hi-arts.co.uk ) including an Arts Journal, Events Guide, and comprehensive Arts Directory; advisory and guidance services to groups and individuals; grant aid schemes; the operation of the Screen Machine mobile cinema service • Time-limited projects to develop aspects of the infrastructure for the arts: in music, drama, literature, crafts, audience development, etc. • The establishment and support of an ‘archipelago’ of related companies, growing out of HI~Arts’ own projects. This includes: Go Events, working with the music industry; the Highlands and Islands Theatre Network; and the booth online box office, now available across the country through Booth Scotland Ltd.
The growth in the arts infrastructure in the Highlands and Islands over the last two decades has been truly extraordinary. Even as far back as 2001, a study into the economic impact of the arts in the area estimated that there had been a 33% increase in employment in the arts since 1991, and a 250% increase in attendances at events and exhibitions. Those figures can only have continued to increase since 2001, with such important factors as: the reopening of the greatly enlarged Eden Court Theatre in Inverness and Pier Art Centre in Orkney; the new An Lanntair Arts Centre in Stornoway; and a general expansion in the fields of Gaelic culture, contemporary music, theatre and dance, and the visual arts and crafts.
20 ELLC/S3/08/4/1 A few statistics:
• The HI~Arts Gallery guide lists over 180 galleries and open studios—twice as many as in 1999 • The Promoters Arts Network has over 80 member groups, all involved in delivering high quality touring performances to their local communities • There are over 80 arts festivals across the area, many of them very new, from the very large (Rock Ness, over 35,000) to the small, remote and unique (the John Lennon Northern Lights Festival, first staged in Durness in 2007). • The Highlands and Islands Theatre Network represents 28 professional theatre companies, 11 of them based in Moray alone. • The Feisean movement, launched in Barra in 1980, now comprises 43 different Gaelic music tuition festivals, extending across Scotland
A great deal of this infrastructure is still very new, and a disproportionate amount of the activity is heavily—or wholly--reliant on volunteer organisers. This means that the achievements of the last twenty years are very fragile, and can easily be undermined. For example, in 2007, the Year Scotland celebrated Highland Culture, one SAC Foundation client – An Tuireann Arts Centre in Portree – went into liquidation, Tosg, the national Gaelic Theatre Company, also based in Skye, ceased operation, and the Skye Music Festival faced potential bankruptcy after heavy losses. Current substantial changes in patterns of Government funding, and in the remit of national and regional agencies, have the potential for unforeseen and possibly damaging impacts on the arts ecology of the Highlands and Islands.
The role of an independent agency such as HI~Arts therefore remains crucial: as a mechanism for partnership between key regional and national agencies, as a flexible and lightweight method of responding rapidly to changing circumstances, and as a means of supporting, and speaking out for, the complex network of artists and arts groups spread across this huge and culturally diverse area.
Robert Livingston Director February 2008
21 ELLC/S3/08/4/1 Paper by Voluntary Arts Scotland
There are an estimated 2 million people in Scotland who participate in the arts and crafts, nearly 9,400 organisations (or 18.8% of the general voluntary sector) and 263,400 volunteers in the voluntary cultural sector.
Voluntary Arts Scotland was created to support the efforts of these people and their groups to provide cultural activity in their communities. Voluntary Arts Scotland is part of the Voluntary Arts Network (VAN) – the development agency for the voluntary arts across the UK and the Republic of Ireland. Our aim is ‘to promote participation in the arts & crafts’.
We seek to provide information, advice and training; bring together the voluntary arts and crafts; to represent their importance to policy makers, funders and politicians, and to improve the environment for everyone participating in the arts and crafts, from small local groups to large national bodies.
This work highlights the value of the arts and crafts in the lives of communities and their significant role in promoting social inclusion, lifelong learning, volunteering and general well being. Voluntary arts and crafts activities take place in all corners of Scotland. In many areas, volunteers provide the only regular opportunity to participate in cultural activities.
Thus, our stakeholders are:
• volunteers who run arts and crafts organisations. We help them to do things better so they can spend more time on the things they love – their arts and crafts activities; • paid staff in organisations that are led by volunteers; • volunteers who work within organisations that are led by paid staff; • voluntary sector groups who use arts and crafts in pursuit of their goals, such as to combat mental health problems; and • organisations who support local voluntary arts and crafts activities such as art-form umbrella bodies and local authorities.
All these groups benefit from the support that Voluntary Arts Scotland can offer.
VAN was established in 1992 by Geoffrey Lord of the Carnegie UK Trust at the request of over 50 main arts and crafts agencies to ensure a voice and adequate representation of needs, such as training and development for all the amateur organisations in the UK and Republic of Ireland. Voluntary Arts Scotland commenced in 1998 as a result of need for VAN to work on a local level in Scotland. It has three part-time members of staff – Fiona Campbell, Executive Officer, Kelly Donaldson, Information Officer and Jason Brown, Administration Assistant – based in Edinburgh.
Voluntary Arts Scotland supports the work of over 9,400 groups; 263,400 volunteers and their staff by providing:
• information and advice; • a regular email newsletter service, the first in the cultural sector, getting relevant fundraising, training and general news out to over 20,000 contacts; • a website with many resources available at no cost including our publications such as Mapping the Future – a guide to business planning;
22 ELLC/S3/08/4/1 • printed quarterly newsletters and briefings on relevant topics such as working in education and monitoring & evaluation; • training and seminars in a range of topics including business planning and child protection; and • a voice for the voluntary cultural sector.
We highlight the value of the arts and crafts in the lives of communities and their significant role in promoting social inclusion, working across different age groups, diverse communities, lifelong learning, volunteering and general well being.
Some recent work and achievements are:
• Our first national conference ‘Crafting the Arts’ looking at such topics as the current Culture Bill, Olympics and legislation updates. • 17 planning seminars have been held from Shetland to the Borders. • A scoping study of Umbrella Bodies, and more recently a Sector Survey, have been undertaken. • 4 information seminars and Briefing on the Protection of Children (Scotland) Act 2003. • A briefing on Arts and Community Planning has been created and distributed. • We have responded to many Scottish Arts Council, Scottish Executive/Government and Scottish Parliament consultations for the voluntary cultural sector; and have contributed to a variety of conferences and seminars at which the voluntary arts, if not culture in general, might otherwise have been neglected. • We have contributed or contribute regularly to a number of policy advisory groups including SCVO Policy Committee, the Voluntary Sector advisory group on the Protection of Vulnerable Groups Act, Voluntary Sector Intermediaries Group and the Scottish Civic Forum.
The Voluntary Arts Scotland committee is elected by the sector and meets quarterly. We draw our committee members from the sector and related areas covering different art and craft forms and localities. We enjoy support in kind from those on the committee and other people within the sector prepared to input into the organisation in other advisory roles. We are represented on the VAN Board and feeds in information about good and successful practice in Scotland. This sharing of ideas and resources is reflected in the cost-effective VAN core office which provides the generic resources for the Network, including information, website and database support and staff, payroll and accounting services. VAN is a charity registered in Scotland and a company limited by guarantee. We currently receive funding and support from the Scottish Arts Council, Glasgow City Council, The Hugh Fraser Foundation and the Carnegie UK Trust.
Comments from satisfied clients: “The resource packs, guidance and local training seminars all help us improve our own practices.” Scottish Community Drama Association “Once again many thanks for your excellent newsletter. The information which you provide is available to local organisations. Keep up the good work.” Taynuilt Village Hall Management Committee “The advice you have given … has helped greatly in my work as Arts Outreach Officer” Janet Martin, North Ayrshire Council “...thank you for supplying me with news and information through my e-mail. I am so isolated in this very rural part of Scotland, and by keeping me in touch with the art field you have given me a new lease of life.” - Individual artist
23 ELLC/S3/08/4/1 “I was passed info on your group for the first time this morning, and it was a revelation. I’ve had a look at your site and there’s so much there I could hardly believe it. This is exactly the kind of organisation we’ve spent the last few months looking for.” Comment from a local voluntary heritage group
Fiona Campbell Executive Officer February 2008
Fiona Rogan – Voluntary Arts Scotland Committee Member Fiona has been involved in the Arts for over 30 years. As a high school teacher in the 1970’s, Fiona encouraged collaborations with professional artists, writing teacher’s packs for companies in return for workshops and performances at her school. In the 1980’s Fiona co-founded a Children’s Theatre and Puppet Company with friends who shared her passion for good quality, affordable theatre for children. The semi-professional Pandemonium Inc toured children’s playschemes and youth projects for many years. Fiona spent the 90’s working as an arts development officer with Strathclyde Region and Glasgow City Council. Her research into the needs of writers and writing groups for Glasgow City Council led to the creation of Scotland's first Literature Development Worker post. She also served as a volunteer advisor to companies such as Fablevision, TAG, Birds of Paradise and Sounds of Progress. After five years with the National Lottery Charities Board, now Big Lottery Fund, Fiona decided to return to arts work, and is currently employed by the Scottish Community Drama Association as the National Arts Development Manager.
24 Agenda item 2 ELLC/S3/08/4/2
20 February 2008
EDUCATION, LIFELONG LEARNING AND CULTURE COMMITTEE
Public petitions: PE1022
Introduction
1. At its meeting on 15 January 2008, the Public Petitions Committee (PPC) agreed to refer petition PE1022 to the Education, Lifelong Learning and Culture Committee for further consideration— Petition by Dr Murray Hill calling on the Scottish Parliament to debate the urgent need to make a step-change in strategy and vigourously promote foreign langauge learning and intercultural awareness in Scotland’s schools, colleges and universities.
2. A copy of PE1022 is contained at Annexe A. It is also available at this link:
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/petitions/docs/PE1022.htm
3. A SPICe briefing was prepared for the initial PPC consideration. An updated version of the briefing is contained at Annexe B.
PPC consideration
4. PE1022 was first lodged on 23 November 2006 and contains 295 signatures.
5. The petition was first considered by the PPC at its meeting on 18 September 2007, when the petitioner gave evidence. The PPC agreed to seek views on the petition from the Scottish Government, Universities Scotland, the Scottish Centre for Language Teaching and Research, the Language Network Scotland, the Scottish Funding Council, COSLA, Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise.
6. The responses received, along with additional correspondence from the petitioner, were discussed by the PPC at its meeting on 15 January 2008. Copies of all correspondence are contained at Annexe C and available at this link:
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/s3/committees/petitions/petitionsubmissions/sub- 07/subIndexForPE1022.htm
Suggested approach
7. Members will note that the PPC took oral evidence from the petitioner and also sought views from the Scottish Government, the Scottish Funding Council, Scottish Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, Universities Scotland, Languages Network Scotland and the Scottish Centre for Information on Language Teaching and Research. COSLA was invited to comment but did not do so. The petitioner also made a further two written submissions to the PPC, commenting on the submissions received.
1 ELLC/S3/08/4/2 8. The written evidence collected by the PPC contained conflicting views. The Scottish Government submission noted that it was ‘committed to placing modern languages at the heart of the school curriculum’ and that the forthcoming draft outcomes for modern languages in Curriculum for Excellence would be key to this aspiration.
9. It also noted that over the past year, the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) has been investigating the provision of Modern Languages in Scotland. It is understood that in addition to analysis of trends, this process has also involved the contribution of a number of stakeholders from colleges, universities and the Scottish Government. The Council is due to present this information to its skills committee and publish a paper on this in the near future.
10. The Scottish Government response also notes that universities and colleges in Scotland are independent bodies and decisions on the courses they offer are a matter for those bodies, having regard to demand, cost and other factors.
11. Scottish Enterprise (SE) and Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), in their responses, note the usefulness of foreign language skills in developing and maintaining business relationships with customers and others outside the UK
12. Language Network Scotland and the Scottish Centre for Information on Language Teaching and Research were both broadly supportive of the petition.
Consideration of possible committee approaches to petition
Current position
13. Members will be aware that the Committee is to hold two evidence sessions on Curriculum for Excellence in February 2008. However, these sessions are intended to be focussed on the strategic development, planning and implementation of CforE, rather than on any one subject area. It is therefore probably not appropriate for the petition to be considered as part of these sessions.
14. As previously noted, the PPC has already taken written evidence from all the relevant stakeholders. There would appear to be little value to be added by taking any further evidence from either the petitioner or stakeholders.
15. Members may also wish to be aware that the draft Curriculum for Excellence outcomes for modern languages were published in November 2007. These are contained at Annexe D, and are also available at this link:
http://www.curriculumforexcellencescotland.gov.uk/outcomes/languages/modern foreignlanguages/index.asp
Consultation on the draft outcomes continues until the end of March.
Options for committee approach
16. One option would be to take oral evidence or hold an inquiry into this subject. However, the Committee may wish to exercise caution before considering this option. Members might wish to consider that, in carrying out its main role of scrutinising the performance of the Scottish Government, the Committee’s approach should be mainly a strategic and high-level one. Such an approach may not sit comfortably with a decision to carry out work as a result of what is, arguably, lobbying on behalf of a
2 ELLC/S3/08/4/2 specific subject. It is conceivable that similar representations could be received (indeed, a number were by the previous committee in session 2) from interest groups campaigning on behalf of, for example, maths, science, drama, physical education, technology, religious education, history, geography, music or art. Carrying out more in- depth work on this petition may open the door to similar petitions in the future.
17. A second option would be to write to the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning, drawing her attention to the petition and to the evidence collected by the PPC, and asking for her comments.
18. A third option, which could perhaps be taken along with the second option, would be to allow the petition to remain open in the meantime, pending the publication of the Scottish Funding Council report. Once it has been published, the Committee can consider it, together with the Curriculum for Excellence draft outcomes, and decide whether to continue or close the petition. Such a decision will be able to be made in the context of the Committee’s consideration of the priorities on which its work programme for the 2008-09 year and beyond are to be based.
Action
19. The Committee is invited to CONSIDER the options above and AGREE its approach.
Karen Whitefield Convener Education, Lifelong Learning and Culture Committee
3 ELLC/S3/08/4/2 Annexe A
Available in hard copy only.
4 ELLC/S3/08/4/2 Annexe B
Petition Number: PE1022
Main Petitioner: Dr Murray Hill
Subject: Calls on the Parliament to debate the need to vigorously promote foreign language learning and inter-cultural awareness in Scottish schools, colleges and universities
This briefing is a revised version of that provided to the Petitions Committee in August 2007.
School Education Since 2001 all pupils in Scotland have been entitled to an experience of learning a modern language which: begins no later than Primary 6; builds on their prior experience of first and other language development, learning and use; is continuous and progressive in the same language; and covers a minimum of six years of study or its equivalent of approximately 500 hours.
A progress report published by HMIe in 2005 highlighted the tension between curriculum flexibility and the ‘entitlement’ to modern language study. It also recommended a national strategy to ensure that sufficient trained staff are available to deliver modern languages in primary schools, various ways in which the Curriculum for Excellence should take account of languages, and that language study at Higher level and beyond needed to be boosted.
Since the beginning of session 2005/06, HMIE has carried out a number of focussed visits to primary schools to look at provision for modern languages. A report, published in February 2007 found almost universal uptake until pupils the end of S2, followed by a falling off to around 85% in S3 and S4. The report emphasised the value of language learning, and recommended that a realistic aim was ‘partial competence’, rather than fluency:
“High quality language learning should be part of every young Scot’s education. Teachers must ensure that pupils’ experiences of learning another language are enjoyable and rewarding. At the same time, Scottish society should not be unrealistic about the levels of proficiency which can be attained over a relatively short period of time. Partial competence, rather than a native speaker’s level of fluency, is both a realistic and a valuable aim.”
It also reported on use of the Scottish Executive’s Languages Fund through which specific funding was allocated to all education authorities to assist them in taking forward their part of the agenda arising from Citizens of a Multilingual World. The report found that nationally, there continues to be a need to provide in-service training for a large number of teachers, to ensure provision for modern language education in primary schools. This fund has now been ‘rolled up’ into the local government settlement.
Primary and early secondary The Curriculum for Excellence draft outcomes for modern languages were published for consultation between November 2007 and March 2008. Covering the ages of 3 – 15 the draft guidance states that “Learning a new language encourages children and young people to broaden their horizons as they explore the language and its associated culture. The overall aims are that through learning of a new language:
5 ELLC/S3/08/4/2 1. I gain a deeper understanding of my first language and appreciate the richness and interconnected nature of languages. 2. I enhance my understanding and enjoyment of other cultures and of my own and gain insights into other ways of thinking and other views of the world. 3. I develop skills that I can use and enjoy in work and leisure throughout my life.” 1
Learning and Teaching Scotland provide resources to support language teaching.
Languages at S3 – S6 One of the issues highlighted by the petitioners was that the way options worked in schools meant it was difficult to study more than one language. The Scottish Government’s response to the petition (30th October 2007) stated that:
“We are planning to produce guidance on the options available for managing the curriculum at all stages; we will use this opportunity to encourage curriculum managers to include experience of modern languages as fully as possible.”
The table below shows the number of entries for French, Spanish and German exams in 1987, 1997 and 2007. Numbers of entries for Spanish exams have increased although from a very low base. However, French and German Higher entries have dropped. At standard grade, the number of French and German entries were higher in 1997 than in 1987 but have since decreased.
Figure 1: Entries to language exams 1987, 1997 and 2007 entries 1987 1997 2007 Standard Grade French 23,778 40,489 37,171 or equivalent German 6,209 17,157 10,862 Spanish 1,222 2,575 4,616 Higher French 7,067 4,840 4,574 German 2,044 2,078 1,621 Spanish 531 788 1,220
Advanced French 566 407 624 Higher/CSYS German 163 198 164 Spanish 27 52 127 Source: SQA statistics 1987, 2007. The table shows numbers of entries. As pupils can take more than one exam and candidates may be presented from outwith schools, this does not show numbers of school pupils sitting these exams. Standard Grade or equivalent includes figures for O-grade, traditional and alternative exam intermediate 1 and intermediate 2. In 2007 there were also 3,068 entries for French, Spanish or German at Access 2 and 3.
Language Teachers In 2006 there were 1,706 teachers in secondary schools whose main subject was a modern language compared to 1,574 in 2003. There are also teachers able to teach a language but it is not their main subject. Data for this wider group is not available for 2003.
Figure 3: Numbers of language teachers 2006 and 2003 Language teachers, 2006 2003 secondary school Main subject able to teach the Main subject taught subject taught French 1,157 1,463 1,054 German 233 729 242
1 LTS Modern Languages draft outcomes cover paper. See http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/mfle/aboutmodernlanguages/curriculumforexcellence/draftoutcomes.asp 6 ELLC/S3/08/4/2 Italian 66 285 65 Other modern languages 250 287 213 Total 1,706 1,574 Source: Teachers in Scotland 2006, Teachers in Scotland 2004
University It is up to individual institutions to decide which courses to run. The Funding Council has been examining the provision of Modern Languages and related subjects at further and higher education levels in Scotland. A report was due early in 2008. The number of students completing higher education course in languages in increasing. Although language graduates as a proportion of all graduates had been dropping, the most recent figures show an increase.
Figure 4: Students completing higher education language courses 1996 - 2005 Languages as a proportion of students all subjects 1996-97 1,520 2.5% 1997-98 1,560 2.5% 1998-99 1,510 2.5% 1999-2000 1,595 2.3% 2000-01 1,760 2.7% 2001-02 1,490 2.3% 2002-03 1,525 2.4% 2003-04 1,415 2.2% 2004-05 1,540 2.2% 2005-06 2,125 2.9% Source: Scottish Government: Graduates from higher education courses in Scotland by subject of study. October 2007.
In written evidence to the Petitions Committee, the Language Network Scotland noted the increase in language students but commented that:
“A closer examination of the figures […] confirms the widely-held suspicion that modern languages learning is not in a healthy state. Some 86% of the increase reported comes from activity at two further education colleges: Central College of Commerce in Glasgow and Telford in Edinburgh. Passes achieved by students were in higher education units not leading to a national certificate. To describe them as graduates is wrong.”
The Scottish Government response to the petition commented on the increasing student numbers as follows:
“While this trend can in part be explained by a sharp rise in the numbers of students completing uncertificated courses at Higher National level, the numbers of students gaining qualification at first-degree and Masters levels have increased since 2002-03.”
The petitioner highlights the closure of language departments in Scottish Universities:
“In recent years, QMUC has ceased language provision, Abertay University has severely curtailed language provision. The Robert Gordon University has cessated ‘with Languages’ degrees and credit-bearing language modules seem likely to be removed from the undergraduate programmes from 2007/8. Dundee University very recently signalled its decision to downsize language provision, while Stirling University has discontinued the study of German.”
7 ELLC/S3/08/4/2 The Scottish Government’s written evidence accepts that there have been closures, but that this is a matter for individual institutions:
“We are aware that recently some Universities have made decisions to cut provision for the tuition of modern languages, but this has been determined by individual institutions’ strategic plans and their emerging financial positions. By example, Dundee University’s decision to cut provision has been widely reported but has been made in light of a review of financial sustainability across all University activities and approved by the University Board. Again, ministers cannot intervene in decisions of this kind.”
Promotion of Modern Language Learning
Scotland The Scottish Centre for Information on Language Teaching and Research, based at Stirling University, has been funded by the Scottish Executive since 1991 to promote language learning and use in Scotland. http://www.scilt.stir.ac.uk/
The Scottish Confucius Institute is part of a worldwide network promoting Chinese language and culture and strengthening understanding between individuals, businesses and communities in China and Scotland.
The British Council (Scotland) run a number of programmes to promote language and cultural exchange.
European Union The European Languages portal gives details of policies. The Comenius and ERASMUS programmes fund student exchanges and LINGUA promotes language learning and teaching. In March 2002, the European Union meeting in Barcelona called for at least two foreign languages to be taught from a very early age and on 22 November 2005 the European Commission adopted a Communication on Multilingualism. An Action Plan was produced for 2004 – 06. More recent policy includes a High Level Group on multilingualism and a Ministerial conference on multilingualism. This will provide a basis for a Communication outlining a new strategy on multilingualism (to be presented during the second half of 2008).
Council of Europe The Council of Europe’s activities to promote linguistic diversity and language learning include the European Day of Languages on 26 September which aims to:
• alert the public to the importance of language learning • increase awareness and appreciation of all languages • encourage lifelong language learning
Other policy In addition to ‘Citizen’s of a multi-lingual world’, the following policies were developed by the previous Executive: • Scotland’s strategy for stronger engagement with China (2006) This includes a target that at least 200 pupils should be studying for Chinese language national qualifications in Scottish schools by 2010 • Action Plan of the Cooperation Agreement with France. Eg French and Scottish Higher Education Institutions provided 4 week placements in each other's institutions as part of the BEd for Modern Languages. • Education agreements with European regions such as Bavaria and Catalonia encourage educational exchange and language learning through a variety of EU and Executive funded schemes. • Scottish Continuing International Professional Development Programme (2006) £200,000 of Executive funding in its first year, will provide around 150 study visits each year for Scottish teachers and local authority staff.
8 ELLC/S3/08/4/2 In 2002 the UK Government published Languages for All: Languages for Life A strategy for England.
Scottish Government Action The Scottish Government response to the petitioners referred to the intention to develop a Scottish Language Baccalaureate:
“The Scottish Language Baccalaureate aims to encourage secondary school pupils to study modern language courses beyond Standard Grade and raise the status of S6 by promoting greater collaboration between secondary schools and HE/FE. Early discussions have taken place with the Scottish Qualifications Authority and other education bodies including Universities Scotland and work is beginning on developing proposals for the awards.”
Camilla Kidner Senior Research Specialist 13 August 2007 (revised 11 February 2008)
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Every effort is made to ensure that the information contained in petitions briefings is correct at the time of publication. Readers should be aware however that these briefings are not necessarily updated or otherwise amended to reflect subsequent changes.
9 ELLC/S3/08/4/2 Annexe C
Available in hard copy only.
10 ELLC/S3/08/4/2 Annexe D
Available in hard copy only.
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