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Petitioner submission of 7 September 2021

PE1879/B: Provide an accessible and professionally developed learning and teaching resource on Israel and Palestine

On 24/03/17, an Education Scotland staff member confirmed in a letter that the development of Palestine/Israel - Teaching Material to be “balanced and appropriate for use in Scottish schools” However, they “were not well received by all groups”. 

The writing in bold above is Scottish Friends of Palestine’s (SFoP) emphasis. There was only one set of stakeholders, or group, where only some of the constituent members disagreed.  

The Education Scotland staff member also went on to state: 

. . . “The resources are now on an open area of the national intranet for education (GLOW) which makes them accessible to practitioners”. . . Education Scotland’s commitment was to facilitate and support the development of the resource which we have done,” . . .”GLOW is arguably the destination hub for staff looking for additional learning and teaching resources or to share ideas and approaches”“.  

The writing in bold is likewise important. It confirms the paramount importance of GLOW for those teachers seeking additional educational resources. 

This confirmation from Education Scotland followed the convening of a writing group under the auspices of Education Scotland and Glasgow and Clyde Rights-Based Learning Group (GCRBLG) when, by Autumn 2016, the Teaching Material was ready to be scrutinised by various stakeholder groups. This exercise was completed, with support from Education Scotland, by the end of 2016 with the confirmation issued about 3 months later.

• Within 2 weeks of Education Scotland confirming that a resource was available on GLOW, with no explanation offered, the resource was taken off the open, public area of GLOW and became password protected. It was to take 3+ more years before the resource would be viewed again in the public sphere.

This educational resource has unique and verifiable claims:

• In May 2017 the resource was amended by Education Scotland on instruction from the Cabinet Secretary for Education as a consequence of political lobbying.
• For reasons unstated, the validity of the resource became dependent on the need for consensus across all stakeholders. This need for consensus was eventually ditched.  

Overnight the resource was unilaterally referred to as a “draft”. This allowed an avalanche of obstacles to materialise: piloting, further reviews, more consultation, a strategic review meeting (end of 2017), ownership (March 2018) and ‘consensus prior to piloting’ (June 2018).This last demand broke new ground with the concept of “balance and objectivity” given as the reason for redrafting (with no explanation as to the nature of the alleged lack of balance and objectivity) with the latter contingent on the “resolution of ownership” of the resource. Then in October 2018 SFoP was informed that the Cabinet Secretary had put a “pause” on all activity re-the resource. 

• Here, it is important to note that the information and detail provided above was never volunteered by the Cabinet Secretary for Education/Education Scotland. It was only through persistent questioning by SFoP that the convoluted thought process of the Scottish Government in “support(ing) the learning and teaching about Israel / Palestine“ was revealed 

There is evidence to suggest that well-funded purveyors of the Israel narrative are increasingly to be found in Scotland’s classrooms. Where does this then leave the claim to have a resource “accessible to practitioners” and Education Scotland’s role in ensuring that Scotland’s teachers and pupils have access to a bias-free, balanced resource? The answer is found on an obscure GCRBLG blog. It contains no link to the resource or even the name of the resource (Palestine & Israel, understanding the conflict). 

SFoP was informed that 

As of 3 September (2019), anyone accessing the Glasgow and Clyde Rights Glow blog will find the following message which signposts them to the EIS. 

The teaching and learning resource on Israel/Palestine previously available on this blog via a password is no longer hosted on Glow. The resource has now been published by the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS). Further information can be obtained from the EIS. 

Apparently the provision of a ‘signpost’ was all that the Cabinet Secretary for Education could make available for Scotland’s pupils. 

Note:   

• The EIS assumed ownership of the resource following talks with the Cabinet Secretary for Education. The talks lacked any transparency and ignored the fact that two other bodies were also in the running for ownership claims.  
• Throughout this period two working groups were formed at the request of the Cabinet Secretary for Education. One was the Israel/Palestine teaching resource review group with membership drawn from a variety of education focused bodies incl. Education Scotland.  The other was a Steering Group with representatives from Dundee University, the One World Centre and one charitable group which requested anonymity. This Steering Group was never utilised. 

Is it to be the fate of Scotland’s pupils and teachers that, nearly 6 years on, they are no better served by Education Scotland in the crucial subject area of understanding the Israel – Palestine conflict than before?