Kezia Dugdale To Focus On Education In First Major Speech
Kezia Dugdale will draw on her experience of being outpaced by high-achieving, privately-educated students at law school to rail against the injustices working class people face'', in her first major speech as Scottish Labour leader.
Ms Dugdale, who studied law at Aberdeen University, said she could not compete with well-heeled students who spent their summers working at family law firms while she prepared food for oil workers.
The Lothian MSP believes social advantage and disadvantage follows young people throughout their education'', and pledged tochallenge power'' and change the system'' ahead of a speech at Edinburgh College today.
I first felt the unfairness of inequality when I moved from primary school in leafy Elgin to secondary school in urban Dundee,'' she said.
Expansive sports fields replaced by playground concrete.
An average pupil in prosperous Elgin, I was suddenly near top of the class in my new secondary in Dundee.When I went to study law at Aberdeen University, I found the wheel had turned again and I was surrounded by privately-educated pupils whose backgrounds I couldn't relate to and whose achievements I couldn't compete with.
They would spend holidays at their parents' law firms, I would work preparing food containers for oil rigs.
My family wasn't rich but we weren't in poverty either, and it just seemed wrong that advantage and disadvantage followed young people throughout their education.
After university I worked as a welfare rights adviser, helping disadvantaged students to get the support they need.
The frustrating struggle to help my clients to work the system made me realise that what I really needed to do was to change the system.''
Ms Dugdale has also volunteered as an advocate for vulnerable people with addictions and mental health problems, and who have been living rough or been to prison.
She added: Government, when it responds to what people need, working with them not just for them, can transform lives beyond recognition, and when government fails it can have a devastating impact on vulnerable lives.
Above all it has reinforced my belief that the fortunate have a responsibility to use our power to help those who don't have the same opportunities.
And as a parliamentarian, the campaigns I have led with extraordinary men and women, like Debtbusters, made me angry at the injustices working class people face but also inspired me as people came together to challenge power.''
SNP MSP George Adam, who sits on the education committee, said: Earlier this week the First Minister underlined the SNP's clear commitment to helping ensure every child in Scotland is given the support they need to achieve their full potential - no matter what their background.
She also outlined how support through initiatives such as the Attainment Fund will help deliver progress.
If Kezia Dugdale is serious about tackling the attainment gap and reducing inequality, she must commit to working with the SNP to deliver our socially progressive policies that will help make Scotland a better country.
Over the next weeks and months, Kezia Dugdale and her new front bench team have the opportunity to show that Labour has learned the lessons of recent years - but to do this they must break from the endless negativity and obsessively anti-SNP agenda and instead work together for the good of everyone in Scotland.''