Mr. Milianasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list the facilities which will be surplus to requirements at Jordanhill college in the event of the training of physical education teachers being discontinued there; how these facilities are proposed to be disposed of; and what he estimates the proceeds of disposal will be.
§ Mr. RifkindIn my statement on 17 July 1986 announcing the centralisation of physical education training, I also asked colleges to dispose of surplus accommodation, whether for educational or for other use. My Department has subsequently sought to agree a programme of disposals with each college. Jordanhill was not pressed to include firm proposals for the disposal or alternative use in due course of the specialist facilities used to train secondary physical education teachers, primarily because the extent to which those facilities will become surplus is uncertain until the outcome of a review of leisure and recreation courses, which is to be undertaken shortly by my Department, is known.
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Mr. Milianasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will publish in the Official Report his reply to the letter from the chairman of the board of governors of Jordanhill college, dated 15 September 1986, with regard to his proposal to discontinue the training of physical education teachers at Jordanhill.
§ Mr. RifkindI refer the right hon. Member to my letter sent to the chairman of the board of governors of Jordanhill college on 24 September 1986. I am arranging for a copy of this letter, which is as follows, to be placed in the Library of the House.
New St. Andrew's House St. James Centre Edinburgh EH1 3SX James L. Brown, Esq, MA, MEd Chairman of the Board of Governors Jordanhill College of Education Southbrae Drive GLASGOW G13 1PP 24 September 1986 Dear Mr. Brown,
I was glad to have the opportunity to meet you and your colleagues on 5 September and to hear at first hand the reasons for the College's opposition to the ending of preservice training for physical education teachers at Jordanhill. I have also seen your letter of 15 September.
In conjunction with my officials, I have considered carefully the various points which you have raised. However, I must say that I remain of the view that the decision which I announced to the House of Commons on 17 July is soundly based.
I should nevertheless like to clarify a number of aspects in the light of our discussion. In the short term the retention of PE teacher training at both sites might seem to provide a relatively easy option, both in geographical terms and to avoid an unpalatable outcome to one of the existing specialist units. But I am convinced that such a course of action would be mistaken, having regard to the educational implications in the longer term. I am satisfied that it is in the wider interests of Scottish education as a whole for a single, national centre for physical education to be established in order to develop a centre of excellence in the full sense of the term. I do not believe that the same excellence and scope for professional innovation across the range of related fields can be secured at two centres in a country of Scotland's size.
It seems to me that only by seeking to create a single establishment can the necessary scale of operation be achieved in order to ensure that the range of course options is suitably rich and the specialist support services sufficiently broad. In management terms, moreover, two specialist centres could exacerbate the difficulties which can arise—and are being experienced, at present—from fluctuations in the demand for teachers in a single secondary subject. Against that background I have had to make a choice between the two current providers and I have concluded on balance that the Dunfermline site offers the more promising professional climate for meeting the training needs of male and female PE teachers and generally for realising the Government's aspirations in this particular field of education. I must emphasise that it has been educational considerations that have had most weight in reaching this conclusion.
I am aware that the Scottish Sports Council had expressed an interest in moving to Cramond if the Dunfermline campus became available. However, it is by no means certain that their accommodation requirements could be satisfactorily met without additional capital expenditure, if PE and other training continued to be provided and office accommodation was required to support the academic and other staff based at the campus. It is certainly my expectation that as part of 150W the exercise to dispose of surplus accommodation at the colleges of education, the views of the Council will be sought on the possible future use of specialist PE facilities by the SSC itself and by individual sporting bodies in Scotland.
The importance of in-service provision for physical education, with an appropriate specialist input, in the West of Scotland is fully recognised. Yet I understand that academic staff from Dunfermline currently provide schoolbased in-service training extensively in the West of Scotland, including Strathclyde. The working party established to take matters forward will be considering how to meet the wide spectrum of in-service training needs for PE teachers in the West of Scotland most effectively under the new arrangements. Their thinking will, of course, have to take account of authorities' overall in-service requirements.
On the integration of PE students in the merged college in the East, it is easier to mix socially with other students on a single campus, although even on that basis the highly specialist nature of PE training inevitably restricts the scope for shared teaching experiences. By merging the resources of Moray House and Dunfermline, however, I would expect it to be possible to provide an academic teaching input no less comprehensive than that which is currently available at Jordanhill.
I realise that by confirming my original decision this letter will come as a deep disappointment to the College. I acknowledge the contribution which SSPE has made over the years but change is needed for the future. I hope that you and your colleagues will now work constructively with other members of the working party to ensure that the detail arrangements are in the best interests of existing students at both sites and of Scottish education as a whole.
Yours sincerely
Malcolm Rifkind
Mr. Milianasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he has now concluded his financial appraisal of his proposal to discontinue the training of physical education teachers at Jordanhill; and if he will give details of the result.
§ Mr. RifkindI refer the right hon. Member to my hon. Friend's reply of 3 November 1986, at columns225–26, to the hon. Member for Glasgow, Maryhill (Mr. Craigen).
§ Mr. Millanasked the Secretary of State for Scotland what response he has sent to the National Coaching Foundation which has informed him that the Scottish school of physical education.. Jordanhill, has been designated a national coaching centre; and whether he will abandon his proposal to discontinue the training of physical education teachers at Jordanhill.
§ Mr. RifkindThe National Coaching Foundation was aware of my decision to centralise PE teacher training in Scotland when it announced its network of national coaching centres. My Department has pointed out that the coaching input from academic staff at Jordanhill may be in doubt once secondary PE training ceases there.
I see no reason to depart from my decisions on the future of PE teacher training.