Scotland's leading teaching union, the Educational Institute of Scotland

Scotland's leading teaching union, the Educational Institute of Scotland, has published a manifesto in preparation for the Scottish Parliamentary elections in May. Among its priorities are that every nursery school and nursery class should be led by fully trained and fully qualified teachers, and that Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Education should remain the principle body responsible for inspecting what is taught in nursery schools. The manifesto and a summary leaflet are to be sent to educational organisations, MSPs, political parties and other interested individuals. A flexible working policy for Health minister Malcolm Chisholm announced the introduction of a childcare allowance for lone parent student nurses last week. The allowance, which will be introduced from September, will provide up to 1025 a year for formal childcare costs. Mr Chisholm commented, 'I hope this will help ease the burden for those hard working students who have child commitments.' The Executive has increased the student bursary by 20 per cent since 1998 but is concerned about the numbers of students who drop out, often because of financial problems.