John Swinney MSP
Written 20 posts
Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills
Anti-Bullying Week
18th November 2020
Anti-Bullying Week 2020 provides us with the opportunity to send a clear and positive message that bullying of any kind is totally unacceptable and when it happens, we all have a responsibility to address it. Building on the success of last year’s campaign, ‘Change Starts with Us’, anti-bullying week 2020 focusses on ‘What Made It…
Full-time schooling in a pandemic – looking back at Term 1
14th October 2020
No one could doubt the challenges that lay ahead when schools opened in August. We were asked – and we asked ourselves – how could pupils possibly safely return to full-time learning in the middle of a global pandemic? Well, they could and they did. Now, with most of Scotland’s children and young people on…
Message to EU national teachers
12th October 2020
I want to thank EU national teachers for their significant contribution in combating Covid-19. The emergence of the virus is one of the biggest challenges that the world has faced for generations. The decision to close schools was one of the most difficult decisions we needed to make during this crisis. I do not underestimate…
Celebrating International Teachers’ Day
5th October 2020
During the Covid-19 pandemic, I have hugely valued the contribution of key workers in their roles keeping essential services operating. Teachers have played a significant part in this – when school buildings closed in March, they continued to deliver learning to pupils across Scotland in new and innovative ways. And when they re-opened in August,…
Black History in Scotland’s Curriculum
14th July 2020
Deputy First Minister John Swinney The Scottish Government stands in solidarity with the world-wide anti-racism movement. Education has a key role to play in building a society which actively challenges racism, eliminates racial discrimination and advances equality. I have received many items of correspondence asking that more is done to ensure social inequality, racism and…
Listening and acting to tackle the climate crisis together – Climate Week 2019
9th October 2019
Climate Week 2019 brings into focus the defining challenge of our times – tackling the global climate emergency – with conversations taking place across Scotland on the role we all have to play. Listening is vital to productive conversation, and as a government we have been listening to the growing number of voices from the…
Celebrating all learner journeys – #MyLearnerJourney
22nd July 2019
A young person’s experience at school can help them discover what they are passionate about so they can find a pathway to a career in which they can flourish. Curriculum for Excellence is designed to help young people become successful learners, confident individuals, responsible citizens and effective contributors. But that doesn’t mean the same thing…
Third annual Cabinet meeting with children and young people
19th June 2019
In one of the highlights of the Cabinet calendar, I had the pleasure of meeting once more with 14 exceptional children and young people – seven Members of the Children’s Parliament (MCPs) and seven Members of the Scottish Youth Parliament (MSYPs) – at our third annual Cabinet meeting with children and young people in March….
Children and Young People’s Voices Matter!
4th February 2019
Human rights, relationships, equality, period poverty and Brexit were issues that were raised at the last children and young people’s Cabinet meeting in 2018 as the most important for their generation. I met with 14 inspirational individuals – seven Members of the Children’s Parliament (MCPs) and seven Members of the Scottish Youth Parliament (MSYPs) –…
Deputy First Minister John Swinney reflects on his week in India
3rd December 2018
I have just completed my second visit to India, and have been struck once again by the warmth of the welcome, and by the size of the opportunity for our two nations to collaborate. While there, I saw a great deal of existing cooperation – in business, education, culture, social enterprise and water to name…