This paper follows on from the previous bulletin (Redford 2018), which covered the education remit of the Parliament's Education and Skills Committee between August 2017 to January 2018. This bulletin covers the Education remit of the Education and Skills Committee from February to July 2018. [For the previous bulletin (v50 n1 2018), see…

Comparisons with other parts of the United Kingdom have played an important role in justifying decisions made in relation to student funding in Scotland since devolution. This article considers first what comparative claims have been made for the content of student funding policy in four areas: fees, debt, total living cost support and…

Free tuition in Scotland is frequently linked to principles of equal access and fairness. But just how "fair" do young people think access to higher education is? And what concepts of fairness are their views based on? This article reports the findings of semi-structured interviews with 121 young people aged 15-18 in Scotland. The paper…

This paper considers the extent to which higher education in Scotland may be seen as a socially just system. The paper begins with a discussion of recent literature on the nature of social justice, drawing on the writing of Fraser (2005), Phillips (2004) and Sen (1992). Phillips' argument that social justice must be understood in terms of equality…

Despite the Scottish Government's frequent affirmation of its commitment to social justice principles, there has of late been a recognition of the need for firmer action to tackle the social class gap in higher education participation, reflecting wider social inequalities in Scotland. In a recent policy statement, Angela Constance, Cabinet…

Discusses proposed educational reforms in Ireland, highlighting components of the 1992 Green Paper, "Education for a Changing World." Six key aims involve greater equity in education, a broadening of education, better use of resources through decentralization, improvement of teacher training, a system of quality assurance, and greater…

Education issues addressed by the Scottish Parliament in 2001 included Gaelic language maintenance, lifelong learning, funding for research and teaching in higher education, and the role of education in economic development. It is becoming apparent that economic development concerns may not necessarily be congruent with principles underlying…