Educational Commitments in the 2016 Election to the Scottish Parliament: An Analysis of Party Manifestos

Transcription

1 Humes, Walter (2017) Educational Commitments in the 2016 Election to the Scottish parliament: An Analysis of Party Manifestos, Scottish Educational Review, 49(1), Educational Commitments in the 2016 Election to the Scottish Parliament: An Analysis of Party Manifestos Walter Humes University of Stirling ABSTRACT This paper examines the 2016 manifestos of the main political parties seeking election to the Scottish Parliament, with particular reference to their educational commitments on issues of equality and inclusion. The policy context is described and related to academic accounts of the policy-making process. Use is made of discourse analysis as a method of highlighting key concepts and recurring textual motifs. After some general observations about manifestos as a sub-genre of political discourse, the proposals of five parties (SNP, Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democrat and Green) are considered in more detail. Education is located within the overall political programmes of the parties and points of tension and contradiction, both within and between manifestos, are noted. In the discussion section, reference is made to theoretical perspectives on policy narratives and to George Orwell s critique of political language as measures against which the manifestos might be judged. Among the features that receive attention are the need for a stronger knowledge-base about the economics of education to evaluate policy proposals, ambivalence over the use of evidence to generate policies, and the omission of some controversial educational topics. The paper concludes by suggesting that the rhetorical invocation of concepts such as fairness, justice and equity is inevitably compromised by the practical constraints of the policy-making process. Keywords: educational policy; political manifestos; discourse analysis; 2016 Holyrood election; attainment gap. INTRODUCTION The main part of this paper analyses the texts of political manifestos produced by the five main parties (SNP, Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democrat and Green) prior to the 2016 elections to the Scottish Parliament: their policy proposals, the concepts they invoke, the way they are structured and presented, their internal coherence and their intended readerships. Daubler (2012) has described election manifestos as important documents which have not received the attention they merit. His paper focuses on their preparation and the people who are involved in 14

2 their composition, but he notes that manifestos are not only used to address voters, but also are tools for intra-party coordination, [and] for communication with interest groups... (Daubler, 2012: 51). The present paper is particularly concerned with educational policies but it is instructive to see these in relation to other elements in the programmes set out by the parties. This provides the broader context against which policy priorities are established, a context that inevitably involves competing demands for resources and efforts to coordinate provision across different public services (for example, in education, health and social work). As Codd observes, policy involves the selection of goals, the definition of values and the allocation of resources: it is about the exercise of political power and the language that is used to legitimate that process (Codd, 2007: 167). There is another sense in which context is important. Policy texts are not produced in a vacuum. They arise out of specific situations at a particular point in history, and need to be understood in relation to the prevailing circumstances of their composition. Taylor (1997) stresses the importance of both texts and contexts, and argues that discourse theory is useful in highlighting how policies come to be framed in certain ways reflecting how the economic, social, political and cultural contexts shape both the content and language of policy documents (Taylor, 1997: 28). The relevance of discourse theory to the present paper will be explained shortly. First, however, it is necessary to offer a brief sketch of the general political scene prevailing in Scotland in the period leading up to the 2016 election and, in particular, of the background to the educational proposals in the manifestos. The establishment of a Scottish Parliament in 1999, with substantial devolved powers from the UK Parliament in London, created a new political environment in which important questions about democratic accountability and national identity were vigorously debated. The growing ascendancy of the Scottish National Party and its gradual eclipse of Labour in Scotland brought about a major reconfiguration of centre-left politics. First forming a minority government in 2007, and then winning substantial victories in subsequent elections in 2011 and 2016, the SNP has dominated Scottish politics for the last decade. It did, however, suffer a setback in 2014 when its aspiration for Scotland to become a fully independent country was rejected in a referendum. The possibility of revisiting this issue by holding a second referendum has not been ruled out by the SNP leadership, particularly following the UK-wide vote in 2016 on membership of the European Union. Scotland voted strongly in favour of continuing EU membership but the UK as a whole voted to leave. Scottish education as a policy area had enjoyed considerable autonomy from the rest of the UK prior to devolution and it has continued to develop in ways that mark its distinctiveness compared to education in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Moreover, throughout the post-devolution period, education has been high on the political agendas of all the major parties in Scotland. Although there have been differences of both emphasis and substance, there has been general agreement that a successful education system is vital to the nation s future, contributing to economic growth and social progress, as well as to personal development. Scotland has a proud educational tradition, linked to notions of 15

3 democracy, justice and equality (Scotland, 1969; Holmes, 2000; Anderson et al., 2015), that is frequently invoked when proposals for reform are advanced. That tradition has, however, been subject to critical questioning from a number of directions, a trend that intensified in the period immediately prior to the 2016 election. The implementation of the flagship policy for the 3-18 age range, Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) first proposed in 2004 has not been straightforward. Various criticisms have been advanced relating to the conceptual coherence of the programme, the way in which it has been managed, the complexity of the assessment system, the quality of staff development and the resources for new curricular approaches (Gillies, 2006; Priestley and Humes, 2010: Priestley and Biesta, 2013). Running parallel to this has been growing concern about levels of attainment, particularly when Scotland is compared with other countries. Reports by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in 2007 and 2015 gave a mixed account of the nation s educational health. The former cast doubt on some aspects of Scotland s selfimage as a nation where equality of opportunity was in evidence: it found a marked gap between outcomes for socially advantaged and disadvantaged pupils, concluding that Children from poorer communities and low economic status are more likely than others to underachieve, while the gap associated with poverty and deprivation in local government areas appears to be very wide (OECD, 2007: 15). The later OECD report, while suggesting that some progress had been made, called for a relaunch of CfE and renewed efforts to close the attainment gap. CfE was said to be at a watershed moment and there was a need to create a new narrative (OECD, 2015: 12). Research evidence from other sources confirmed that there was work to do, highlighting the link between social deprivation and lower attainment in literacy and numeracy (Sosu and Ellis, 2014). In the field of post-school education, there have been vigorous debates about the relative resourcing of further and higher education, including the long-term sustainability of the SNP s decision not to charge fees to home-based undergraduates. Research evidence has shown that it is hard for students from socially deprived areas to gain access to the most prestigious universities, raising questions of fairness and equity (Riddell, 2016a; 2016b). Further education has been subject to major restructuring and the number of student places has fallen substantially (O Donnell et al., 2015). Employers have complained that vocational education is undervalued, while trade unions have expressed concern about limited access to training through apprenticeship schemes. The Scottish Government has not been passive in the face of these various concerns. It has introduced a series of initiatives in an attempt to address the problems that have been identified. A Scottish College for Educational Leadership was set up in 2014, following recommendations in the Donaldson Report (Scottish Government, 2010) that leadership was a vital element in supporting the teaching profession to meet the demands of educational change. The Attainment Scotland Fund was announced in 2015, allocating 180 million over four years to schools and local authorities to support pupils in primary schools where there is a high level of deprivation. In January 2016, the First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, launched a National Improvement Framework, designed to provide better information on which to measure children s progress and provide targeted support. Ms Sturgeon said Scotland will seize the 16

4 opportunity to be a world leader in assessing and driving forward educational progress for all children (Scottish Government, 2016a). Three months later the final report of the Commission on Widening Access was published. The Commission was set up to advise the government on the steps necessary to achieve the First Minister s ambition that a child born today in one of our most deprived communities will, by the time he or she leaves school, have the same chance of entering university as a child born in one of our least deprived communities (Scottish Government, 2016b: 2). These and other responses certainly indicate high aspirations for Scottish education on the part of the SNP government. It will be some time before a judgement can be made on whether they have achieved their objectives. Actual outcomes often fail to match advance publicity and some political theorists have drawn attention to the growth of policy as spectacle at the expense of policy as substance. For example, Edelman (1977; 1988) talks about words that succeed and policies that fail. By this he means that, in an age in which public relations have come to the fore, what is perceived to be happening a version of events promoted through press releases, skilfully crafted policy documents and highvisibility launch events may be politically more important than what is actually happening on the ground. By the time discrepancies between rhetoric and reality become evident, the debate has moved on and a new government may be in power. In the case of the SNP, however, the signs are that their dominance of Scottish politics looks set to continue for the foreseeable future, so they may well be held to account for their ambitious pronouncements on education. Edelman s point about political language does, however, provide a link to the method of analysis that is used in the present study. METHODOLOGY The paper uses a form of critical discourse analysis (CDA) in examining the manifestos of the five main parties contesting the 2016 elections to the Scottish Parliament. The literature on CDA is extensive, with relevance to a number of disciplines in the humanities and social sciences, but no universally agreed definition of the field. Wodak (2011) offers this general description: CDA can be defined as a problem-oriented interdisciplinary research programme, subsuming a variety of approaches, each with different theoretical models, research methods and agendas. What unites them is a shared interest in the semiotic dimensions of power, identity politics and political-economic or cultural change in society (Wodak, 2011: 38). The approach adopted in the present paper has been influenced most strongly by the work of Fairclough (1989; 1995; 2000; 2003) who draws on linguistics, sociology and politics to explore the ways in which knowledge and power are represented, maintained and re-shaped through the use of discursive forms and techniques. There is a substantial body of work on the discourse of politics, both at a theoretical level and at the level of analysis of particular forms, such as speeches, interviews and newspaper articles by politicians (see, e.g., Chilton, 2004; Bloor and Bloor, 2007; Jensen and Walker, 2008; Fairclough and Fairclough, 2012). There is also an extensive literature on the policy-making process in general (see, e.g., Cairney, 2011; Hill, 2012; John, 2012). With specific 17

5 reference to education, the work of Ball (1990; 1994) has been influential in encouraging the application of discourse analysis to a broad range of educational policies. In Scotland, Arnott and Ozga (2010) have argued that nationalism has been used as a discursive resource to craft a particular political narrative, in which appeals to Scotland s educational tradition have been an important element. In the present study, attention is given to a number of features of the manifestos: their visual and presentational style; the extent to which individuals (especially party leaders) are featured; the positioning of education within the overall programmes; the concepts that are invoked most frequently (a word count of recurring verbs and nouns has been undertaken); headline statements designed for media consumption; narratives of achievement and/or failure; reference to evidence to support policies; policy areas that have been marginalised or omitted altogether. The next section offers an overview of some important characteristics of manifestos as particular types of text. This is followed by an analysis of the documents produced by individual parties. THE MANIFESTOS AN OVERVIEW Manifestos have a number of purposes: to inform and persuade; to set out a programme of legislative reform; to attract media attention; to criticise the record or intentions of other parties. They also have a range of audiences in mind. Few members of the public are likely to read all the manifestos in full. Most will rely on brief reports in the press. Thus, having headline statements is important. Manifestos are also aimed at party supporters who will promote their message among voters: they enable activists to get the message across. Prior to elections, all sorts of interest and pressure groups seek to influence policy proposals, so some manifesto statements may be included to show responsiveness to particular campaigns (e.g., in the case of education, to charities working on behalf of children). Manifestos cannot be expected to express a single, coherent narrative. Just as they are aimed at different audiences, so they are constructed from a variety of sources. The general ideological position of each party as evidenced by their stance on the economy, welfare provision, the role of the state and individual freedom serves as a backdrop, but a range of other influences feeds into the construction of the text. These include: resolutions endorsed at party conferences; reports and policy papers produced by internal working groups; advice from experts on particular policy areas; feedback from consultation exercises involving party members and/or focus groups; external representations from professional bodies, such as the Educational Institute of Scotland or the University and College Union (EIS, 2016; UCU, 2016); research evidence from academics; discussion papers produced by independent think tanks. With reference to the last of these, it is noteworthy that, in recent years, several Scottish organisations have produced discussion documents on education (e.g., CSPP, 2013; Commission on School Reform, 2015). The relative weight of these different influences cannot be calculated with any precision and it is likely to vary from party to party. What can be said is that, although the final text of any manifesto will be subject to the editorial approval of the party leadership, it is best regarded as a negotiated and tactical document, designed to reflect the input of a number of voices and to appeal to a variety of interests. Taylor (2004) states that 18

6 CDA is of particular value in documenting multiple and competing discourses in policy texts, in highlighting marginalised and hybrid discourses, and in documenting discursive shifts in policy implementation processes (Taylor, 2004: 433). With regard to style and tone, manifestos tend to be assertive rather than tentative, prescriptive rather questioning. Fairclough and Fairclough argue that political discourse is fundamentally argumentative and deliberative (Fairclough and Fairclough, 2012: 20) in character, with a focus on reaching decisions and recommending actions. In the case of manifestos, the deliberative part of the process has already taken place and the reasoning behind particular proposals is not usually elaborated in the text: the emphasis is on practical recommendations, especially insofar as they involve change. The linguistic forms used reflect this. The party in power is likely to make claims about achievements, while opposition parties are likely to highlight what they regard as policy failures, before going on to recommend alternatives. The tone can be combative, critical and sometimes boastful. At the same time, it aims to be positive in outlook, holding out the prospect of a better future. THE MANIFESTOS: TEXT AND NARRATIVE Scottish National Party The cover of the SNP manifesto has a single word Re-elect above a large photograph of the leader, Nicola Sturgeon. Public perception of Ms Sturgeon as a confident performer was strengthened during the television debates which took place in the weeks before the 2015 election to the UK parliament. She had become a well-known figure within and beyond Scotland and it was hardly surprising, therefore, that she should feature prominently. The remainder of the document consists of two parts (with separate pagination). The first contains a summary of the main proposals under each policy area. This is lavishly illustrated with many photographs featuring not only Nicola Sturgeon, but also pictures of and supportive statements from people who claim to have benefited from particular aspects of SNP policy. The second part consists entirely of text and offers a fuller statement of the party s programme for the next parliament. Overall, a balance is struck between economic and social discourse. Under the first heading, there are frequent references to investment (41 mentions), enterprise (20), success (24) and growth (24). Social concerns are signalled by references to poverty (28), rights (32), equality (17) and proposals which are said to be fair (54). Comparative adverbs are used to suggest that, under another SNP government, Scotland would be stronger (7), healthier (4), smarter (5), wealthier (4), fairer (19), greener (4) and safer (7). As the party which had been in power for the previous nine years, the SNP naturally focuses on its achievements, listing progress in such areas as early years provision, school buildings and digital learning. It is claimed that We have transformed education... (SNP, 2016: Preface). At the same time, it is acknowledged that we need to do more (ibid, Part 1: 16). What is striking is the extent to which it sets out the standard against which its record will be judged in the next parliament. First, there is a general commitment: 19

7 Making sure Scottish education is world class for all our young people will be the central mission of the next SNP Government. (ibid, Part 2: 7) This is then given a more specific focus: Ensuring excellence for all and closing the gap in attainment between young people from our most deprived and least deprived communities will be the defining mission of the SNP in the next parliament. (ibid, Part 2: 8). How will this be achieved? In addition to existing policies set out in the National Improvement Framework and support to targeted schools through the Attainment Scotland Fund, standardised assessments of pupils in P1, P4 and S3 will take place to measure progress, particularly in literacy and numeracy. There will also be more focused and frequent (ibid, Part 2: 9) school inspections. The possibility that there may be tension between the general drive to raise attainment for all and the specific aim of reducing the gap of targeting disadvantaged pupils and communities is not addressed, though it had been highlighted in a response to the draft National Improvement Framework produced by the Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE, 2015). Some elements of educational policy receive limited mention. Curriculum for Excellence, the flagship policy for the 3-18 age range for more than a decade, is passed over quickly. This is surprising given the widely-publicised OECD report only a few months earlier. Again, both further and higher education are given brief attention in the education section of the manifesto, considering the amount of public debate they had generated in the run-up to the election. What is said relates mainly to student funding and, in the case of FE, a promise to maintain rather than increase the number of places available. However, educational matters surface again in the plans for Scotland s economic development. There is strong support for joint research and development initiatives between academic institutions and businesses' (SNP, 2016, Part 2: 12). New skills qualifications are to be introduced and the number of apprenticeships increased. Within schools, an entrepreneurial culture (ibid, Part 2: 12) is to be encouraged, though this is qualified by saying that it should be values-based. Quite what this would mean in practice is not explained. Education is thus seen as a vital element in Scotland s economic strategy, with young people being encouraged to think of career paths in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. When this is linked to the drive to raise academic standards through the use of standardised assessments in primary and secondary schools, a case can be made for saying that the SNP s educational policies are actually quite hard-edged, a tendency that became even more evident in the postelection period (see below). This strand of discourse is, however, softened by the language used in the section dealing with welfare policies, where the overarching aim is to tackle poverty and inequality, which are important factors in educational underachievement. Here the principles of fairness, dignity and respect (ibid, Part 2: 20) and tolerance, respect, inclusion (ibid, Part 2: 21) are said to be paramount. Teachers holding promoted posts and those with guidance responsibilities are to be given training in equality, with the longer-term aim of making this a requirement for all teachers. Overall, the text is an interesting mix of determination, compassion and prescriptiveness, qualities that are likely to resonate with different audiences. 20

8 Conservative Party The Conservative Manifesto seeks to make a virtue of breaking the usual conventions of the form. In her Foreword, the Scottish leader of the party, Ruth Davidson, states: This is not a normal foreword, nor is this a normal manifesto (Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party, 2016: 2). She admits that the Scottish National Party looks set to win the forthcoming election and that the aspiration of her party is to become the main opposition, holding the Scottish Government to account, since Labour has, in her view, proved ineffective in that role. The word opposition appears no fewer than 81 times in the text. The structure of the manifesto reinforces this theme of opposition. A ten-point programme is set out, under each element of which three top priorities are identified and the question Why we need a strong opposition? is addressed. A traditional Tory stress on economic growth, jobs and low taxation is balanced by welfare policies on housing, childcare, mental health and the rehabilitation of offenders. The personal qualities of Ms Davidson herself are stressed, reinforced by five photographs of her distributed through the document. These play to the public perception of her as a strong, successful leader. Perhaps to avoid any impression that she is a one-woman band, her coverage is balanced by profiles of five Tory candidates, some of whom state that they have come from modest, not affluent, backgrounds. This can be seen as an attempt to appeal to the aspiring working class, whose traditional loyalties have tended to be with Labour. The word work (as noun or verb) is used 41 times in the course of the manifesto. Education features prominently. The three key priorities are: extending flexible, high-quality childcare; empowering school leaders; and focusing on vocational education (ibid: 23). It is stated that the attainment gap between children from advantaged and disadvantaged homes opens up at a very early age thus the need for supportive measures to start early. This is a common theme in all the manifestos but little mention is made in any of them of the desirability of adult education provision which might serve to reinforce measures aimed to help young children: parents who may have had a poor experience of schooling themselves may lack the skills needed to help their children to make good progress. Nevertheless, closing the attainment gap is seen by the Conservatives as the biggest challenge facing education. The manifesto contains a strong attack on the record of the SNP government in this respect and a call for clear, consistent and transparent data (ibid: 25) to measure progress. There is also a general call to improve evaluative research (ibid: 25) and a promise to keep up the pressure on government by advancing evidence-based arguments (ibid: 23). A milder tone can be seen in references to the need to provide extra help to the most vulnerable pupils, in promises to provide enhanced funding for pupils with additional support needs, and in statements about reducing inequality and tackling discrimination. As in the SNP manifesto, a hard-edged discourse of improving standards and raising attainment exists alongside a more caring discourse relating to those who have to overcome various forms of social and educational disadvantage. A case is made for giving schools more autonomy, freeing them from some of the bureaucratic constraints of local government. It is argued that successful schools flourish under strong leadership with a clear sense of purpose and a positive ethos. Where there is a demand, it is suggested, state-funded schools 21

9 could operate outside local authority control altogether, perhaps forming clusters with a single tier of management to give strategic direction. Although no direct mention is made of it, this bears some relation to development of academies in England. What is mentioned is the desirability of introducing the Teach First scheme of recruiting new teachers, which operates in England and Wales, as part of a plan to make teaching more attractive to some of the best university graduates. There is a suggestion that the General Teaching Council for Scotland needs to be more flexible in relation to the recruitment of teachers from outside Scotland. It is also proposed that the inspectorate should be re-established as an independent agency outside Education Scotland. The manifesto makes the case for sustainable further and higher education. Under the SNP government, it is argued, colleges have been disadvantaged compared to universities: This is symptomatic of a long-running prioritisation of academic qualifications over vocational ones (ibid: 25). 152,000 college places have been lost and funding has favoured universities. To counterbalance this, the Conservatives propose the introduction of a contribution of 1,500 a year from graduates once they are earning more than 20,000. They also favour closer working relationships between business, schools and colleges (ibid: 25). This would include an additional 10,000 apprenticeships a year and ten new skills academies across Scotland. Despite its oppositional stance, the Conservative manifesto, like the SNP s, is calculated to suggest its policies manage to be ambitious, caring and realistic at the same time. Labour Party The Labour Manifesto opens with A Letter from Kez, an informal reference to Kezia Dugdale, the Labour leader in Scotland. Although she features in many of the photographs in the document, so too do a number of supporters who offer comments on specific policy areas. Ms Dugdale s letter, unlike Ruth Davidson s opening statement in the Conservative manifesto, does not use the first person, preferring the collective we throughout, perhaps reflecting her party s traditional belief in solidarity. She states that Our leaders must look beyond the next election to what is in the best interests of the future of our country (Scottish Labour, 2016: 5). This can be read as a recognition of poll predictions that Labour would do badly in 2016 and an attempt to prepare the ground for the following election. The manifesto has the title Invest in Scotland s Future and economic language features strongly throughout the document. In some ways this is surprising since the party usually gives more prominence to its social and welfare policies. These certainly feature, with many references to equality (27) and right(s) (31), but it is evident that the UK economic situation serves as the dominant background to the programme that is advanced. There are frequent references to cuts (55) and austerity (17): in contrast, invest(ment) receives 89 mentions. This gives rise to the headline statement: Investing in education is our most important economic policy (ibid: 9). Education is seen as the key driver of growth, jobs and international competitiveness. The party will explore how entrepreneurship can be built into the curriculum in order to create a nation of confident, articulate and innovative future entrepreneurs (ibid: 17). To pay for this programme, a one penny increase in basic and higher rates of income tax will be introduced, using 22

10 the new tax-raising powers of the Scottish Parliament: this will stop the cuts in schools and make public services better (ibid: 12). The Labour manifesto probably provides more information than any other party about the economic data on which is policies are based. This is perhaps designed to counteract the public impression that the last UK Labour government had a poor record in handling economic affairs. On the question of the attainment gap between pupils from rich and poor backgrounds, Labour states: Inequality in attainment must be removed (ibid: 23). It undertakes to end educational inequality in a generation (ibid: 23), an extremely ambitious aim, though the time-frame makes it unlikely that it will be subject to rigorous scrutiny. A series of measures, some also found in other manifestos, is offered as the means to bring about improvements: better provision for childcare and pre-school facilities; much stronger support for children in care; a commitment to implement all the recommendations of an anti-poverty report commissioned by the SNP government (which is not mentioned in the SNP manifesto). On further and higher education, the Labour manifesto addresses the same issues as the Conservatives, taking a similar critical line on the SNP s record on further education but setting a higher threshold for repayments of loans by university graduates. A degree of tension can be detected between two strands in Labour proposals for education. On the one hand the manifesto states that Our vision for education is unapologetically ambitious (ibid: 21). As part of this, The school inspection system will shift towards unannounced inspections. We will demand the highest standards of our schools (ibid: 22). The tone here is peremptory. Elsewhere, a more mollifying note is in evidence. Tribute is paid to the efforts of teachers (ibid: 21), education leaders are to be consulted in relation to curricular changes (ibid: 17), and teaching unions will be involved in plans to introduce a revised version of the Chartered Teacher Scheme (ibid: 23). Discursive modulation is thus used to ameliorate the effect of measures that might be interpreted as overly prescriptive and directive. Liberal Democrat Party Throughout the Liberal Democratic manifesto there is reference to the values the party represents. These are not defined but can be deduced from the number of references to liberal (53), democratic (38), community (16), rights (16), freedom (15) and justice (13). Favoured policies are recommended because they are fair (23) and help to combat social and economic injustices: We stand with the weak against the strong (Scottish Liberal Democrats, 2016: 10). The SNP is portrayed as a centralising party, while the Lib Dems will champion a liberating agenda to roll back the top-down, target-driven, one-size-fits-all culture that distorts our public services (ibid: 19). In style, the manifesto is direct, often using abbreviated forms rather than full sentences and employing lists of bullet points. The Lib Dem leader, Willie Rennie, features in fifteen photographs, often appearing alongside others, though his personal leadership qualities are given less prominence in the text than those of Nicola Sturgeon and Ruth Davidson in the SNP and Conservative manifestos. 23

11 Education is the first policy area addressed in the Lib Dem manifesto: it is said to be the key and investment in education... must be the main priority of the next Scottish Parliament (ibid: 5). There is a sense of urgency in the tone and regret at the perceived decline in the country s educational position: our onceproud educational system is slipping down the international performance league (ibid, p.5). Again, For centuries Scotland led the world in education (ibid: 5) but this is no longer the case: the aspiration is to be the best again (ibid: 3). Several of the proposals are in line with those found in other manifestos, such as a greater emphasis on childcare and pre-school provision and increased resources for further education. Additional funding is to come from a penny increase in income tax, a policy also put forward by Labour. A Scottish Pupil Premium will provide an additional 1,400 for every primary school child from a poor background and an additional 900 for secondary pupils in similar circumstances. Exactly how eligibility is to be determined is not explained. Similarly, a promise to take college funding up to record levels (ibid: 7) lacks detail. Despite the concern to restore Scotland s reputation for high academic achievement, there is less stress on closing the attainment gap than in other manifestos and a belief that regular testing is unlikely to produce improved outcomes. Teachers should be given more freedom to exercise their professional judgement in relation to curriculum content and teaching styles. It is even suggested that the informal methods of the pre-school years could be extended into the first year of primary school, with formal methods commencing from the age of six, in line with some other countries. There is support for increased access to online courses in schools. The mental health of young people is seen as an area that requires better provision, within both schools and the wider community. One of the striking linguistic characteristics of the Lib Dem document is the variable strength of commitment signalled by the use of verbs. Many sentences take the form of We will..., expressing a general intention to pursue certain lines of action. Others, particularly in lists of bullet points, begin with words that range from relatively weak terms like help, support, work with, allow, review, to stronger terms such as make sure, stop, change, establish, champion. The choice of verbs, particularly in manifestos where the party has a chance of forming the government or entering into a coalition administration with another party is significant, because it may be used later as a test of integrity. If there has been a promise to stop or change a particular policy or practice and that hasn t happened, it can be used as a basis for criticism. The Lib Dems had shared power with Labour during the period so presumably there was some awareness of the sensitivities surrounding this issue. Green Party The Scottish Green Party claims that it brings fresh, new, bold ideas to Parliament (Scottish Green Party, 2016: 2) and argues that Scotland needs diverse politics and progressive champions to hold the bigger parties to account. The word bold appears 16 times and bolder 10. There is no expectation that it will be able to form a government so promises, pledges and commitments do not feature in the discourse of the manifesto. Instead, the language has a combative edge to it, with several mentions of fighting for (15), pushing for (26) and 24

12 campaigning for (29) particular policies. Unsurprisingly, there are many references to green policies on energy and the environment and the concept of sustainability is mentioned frequently. The word that appears most often is support (appearing as noun or verb 237 times), applied to a wide range of policies (health, housing, social security, freedom of information, gender equality, etc.). Instead of attaching high importance to leadership, democratic decisionmaking within local communities is seen as the way forward: the stated aim is to create a radical and inclusive democracy that puts citizens at the heart of the democratic process (ibid: 35). Patrick Harvie is the most publicly recognisable of the Green MSPs, but is not described as the leader, simply one of two coconveners. His photograph does appear twice but there are also ten cameos of other Green candidates standing at the election. This positioning of the party as distinctive in both style and substance can perhaps be seen as a deliberate strategy to appeal to voters who are disenchanted with the mainstream parties. The Greens education programme makes informed reference to the existing policy context, including the Commission on Widening Access, the Modern Apprenticeships Scheme and the Attainment Scotland Fund. The underlying educational philosophy which is being advocated can be described as progressive and learner-centred. This is reflected in the language used. All sectors of education should foster curiosity, creativity and growth (ibid: 17), the curriculum should be innovative (p. 17) and although there is a desire to close the attainment gap (ibid: 17) the preferred approach is learning before grades (ibid: 17). The manifesto is strong on the importance of greater equity in funding for FE and HE institutions, making a forceful case for improved entitlements for FE students. There is criticism of the marketisation of higher education (ibid: 18) and of the link between research output and funding. Another notable feature is the outward-looking nature of some of the statements, with supportive mention of international students, UNICEF policies on child poverty and children s rights, and the importance of environmental awareness and global citizenship (ibid: 17). The Greens manifesto uses the word radical twelve times. This is consistent with positioning itself as an organisation offering boldness compared to the main parties. Radical does not appear at all in the Conservative document, which is perhaps not surprising. There are three uses in the Lib Dem manifesto all relating to changing the law on drugs. In the SNP proposals, radical appears once (in relation to land reform) and radicalisation (with negative associations) twice. It might be expected that Labour would employ the term freely, but there are only two mentions (both positive), in connection with past and present health policy. None of the parties not even the Greens uses radical in relation to its education policies. This suggests a general degree of timidity, or perhaps simply a recognition that further reform would run the risk of alienating both education professionals and the wider public. Narrative ambiguities The narratives of the three main parties (SNP, Labour and Conservative) refer to many of the same policy issues but deploy them in different ways. SNP offers a story of progress and achievement in education, together with a programme of determined action to address perceived areas of weakness. The Conservatives call for higher standards, structural reform and a better use of independent data 25

13 on which to base policies. Labour justifies its educational proposals using the language of economics, albeit with the aim of promoting equality, inclusion and social justice. But, as suggested earlier, it would be unreasonable to expect that the documents would contain a single, internally coherent narrative. A focus on the welfare thread of the various policies (children in care, mental health, caring for the disadvantaged, the rights of minority groups, race and gender equality) could lead to the construction of quite different stories. Moreover, many policies are targeted at particular constituencies parents, employers, teachers who may be less interested in the overall picture than in how the proposals will affect them. Texts are re-created by diverse groups and so the search for a single, agreed reading is bound to be elusive. The smaller parties (Liberal Democrats, Greens) place less stress on toughminded action designed to raise educational attainment, rejecting standardised testing, and take a more progressive view of learning and child-development. They can perhaps afford to do so since they are not likely to be faced with the realities of exercising power. The Lib Dems oppose centralisation and argue for increased professional freedom for teachers, while the Greens make a plea for greater innovation and creativity. At the same time, the Lib Dems are the most critical of the SNP s record, claiming that it has been responsible for the decline in Scotland s educational reputation. This could be used as a platform for a very traditional line of argument, calling for a return to policies and practices of the past. The text thus carries potentially conflicting messages, enabling different readers to take from it what they want. Attention to the discourse of manifestos makes it apparent that they are not simply vehicles for the communication of information or the transmission of a plan of action. They are texts that operate on a number of levels, drawing on a variety of sources and intended to appeal to a diverse readership. This helps to explain why they embody incoherences, distortions, structured omissions and negations (Codd, 2007: 181). These features are necessary linguistic strategies. Too much clarity would risk alienating potential supporters: thus, the preference for feel-good rhetoric, upbeat scenarios and national sentiment. Ambiguity makes it easier to backtrack, change direction or abandon commitments later. DISCUSSION Jones and McBeth (2010: 346) observe that the political world is increasingly about policy marketing and narratives. Voters are treated as consumers and urged to buy a particular product. Policy narratives are made up of four elements. First, there is a setting or context, such as the one outlined in the introduction to this paper. Secondly, there is a plot that introduces a temporal element, drawing on notions of progress, decline and reform. These concepts were evident in the section analysing the content of the manifestos. Thirdly, there are characters who are fixers of the problem (heroes), causers of the problem (villains) or victims (those harmed by the problem). Again, these assumed or attributed roles can be seen in all of the manifestos considered above. Finally, a moral arising from the narrative is drawn, where a policy solution is normally offered (Jones & McBeth, 2010: 340). 26

14 At the same time, the diversity of the audience for manifestos means that the narratives are received and interpreted differently. Bansel (2015: 5) refers to the subjects of policy as multiple, mobile and relational and states that the multiple and often contradictory discourses, narratives, practices and experiences through which the subject[s] of policy [are] governed, are embodied in ways that exceed the rationalities and ambitions of policy. These tensions are reflected in the language of manifestos. In his essay, Politics and the English Language, first published in 1946, George Orwell offers a number of trenchant observations on the characteristics of political language: The political dialects to be found in pamphlets leading articles, manifestos, White Papers and the speeches of Under Secretaries do, of course, vary from party to party, but they are all alike in that one almost never finds in them a fresh, vivid, home-made turn of phrase. (Orwell, 2004: 114) Political language has to consist largely of euphemism, question begging and sheer cloudy vagueness. (ibid: 115). If the manifestos that have been considered here are judged against these comments, how do they shape up? As far as the style of the documents is concerned, Orwell s comments remain valid. The manifestos employ a fair amount of tired rhetoric, and the frequency with which the same key terms are employed suggests a form of linguistic containment designed to manage meaning rather than to stimulate thinking. For the most part, the language is dull and prosaic, lacking in vivid images or striking metaphors. In this respect, they simply conform to the traditional characteristics of manifestos as a sub-genre of political discourse. When it comes to content, some of the obscurities, evasions and omissions in the manifestos invite fuller scrutiny. First, it is difficult to get a clear picture of the overall education budget and how it is divided between services. At a time of economic constraint, the cost of policy proposals is bound to be an important consideration. The parties do provide some information about how they will fund their proposals and figures for some specific projects are given, but these figures are not particularly meaningful in the absence of the bigger picture. Providing limited information is not the same as sharing or enhancing knowledge. Both Labour and the Lib Dems say they will add a penny to income tax and this will be used to improve education. The Conservatives question the continuing viability of free tuition for university students and propose a graduate tax. But no party is prepared to address directly the difficult question of how the overall education budget is to be divided among the various sectors. For example, if early years are as important as they all claim, is there not a case for redirecting some resources from higher education? But to admit that might compromise the widening access agenda and could put at risk free tuition for home-based students. Making policy often involves hard choices, but politicians are generally reluctant to state a clear preference for policy A over policy B. Thus they try to reassure different sets of stakeholders by avoiding a definite commitment. They talk about transparency but sometimes see advantages in opacity. The vagueness over the allocation of resources cannot be placed entirely at the door of politicians. Within the education community in Scotland, the constituency of informed opinion about educational finance is small (but see Bell, 27

15 2013). There have occasionally been calls for a specialist centre to study the economics of education but so far this has not led to any action. There is such a centre for England based at the London School of Economics in association with the Institute of Education. But in the current Scottish context, citing an English example which might be worth following is unlikely to have much political appeal. It is noteworthy that references to educational systems in other parts of the United Kingdom are extremely rare in the manifestos, with only the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats making brief mention of what happens across the border. A second feature which lends some credence to Orwell s views on political language relates to the knowledge-base of policies that are advocated. What evidence is there that the policies of the various parties were influenced by professional representations or research reports? There is no reference to the think-tank documents referred to earlier. Only the Labour party includes a list of acknowledgements indicating those organisations that have contributed to the thinking in the manifesto document. It is a long list and includes trade unions, local government, a number of charities (including children s charities), industrial and financial organisations and professional bodies. In the case of education, there were submissions from, among others, the Educational Institute for Scotland, the National Association of Schoolmasters/Union of Women Teachers (NAS/UWT), the Association of Directors of Education (ADES) and the University and College Union (UCU). The last of these claims that its submission is designed to contribute to the national discourse around the election (UCU, 2016: 1), not merely to advance its own interests. The EIS document, while acknowledging that Scottish education continues to face challenges, urges politicians to avoid creating a narrative of failure which does a disservice to the hard work of pupils and students and of their teachers and lecturers (EIS, 2016: 11). In this the EIS seems to have had some success because several of the manifestos are careful to pay tribute to the efforts of teachers, sympathising with the pressures to which they are subject. The same is true in relation to educational research. Several manifestos refer to the importance of producing policies that are evidence informed but there are few direct references to specific research studies. Following the publication of the Draft National Improvement Framework by the Scottish Government in September 2015, a meeting was convened by the Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE), which brought together educational researchers and government officials. The report of this meeting (RSE, 2015) drew attention to the difficulty of improving overall attainment and, at the same time, closing the gap between the most and least advantaged children. It also stressed the urgent need for more independent research, development and evaluation of the intervention measures that were proposed. In a subsequent paper (produced shortly after the election), the RSE set out the necessary conditions for an effective educational research strategy for Scotland (RSE, 2016). This seems to have had little effect since the new Cabinet Secretary for Education very quickly issued a document, Delivering Excellence and Equity in Scottish Education: A Delivery Plan for Scotland (Scottish Government, 2016c). An emphasis on delivery has become a regular feature of policy statements. It is evident that much needs to be done to strengthen data sets as a basis for high-quality educational research and to encourage independent, critical analysis which might serve to better inform policy choices. 28