The Scottish Government needs some new policies to inspire. Business support, taxation, land reform and social housing are areas where a more proactive, socially progressive range of policies could convince voters that the SNP haven't become stale and conservative after years of being in power. Education too is definitely not progressing as they would have wished. Big changes are in order and I would suggest some of the following should be looked at.

Firstly, stop regarding pre-school as babysitting for working parents and start respecting it as possibly the most important stage in education. Structured, non-competitive play can stimulate a child's lifelong thirst for knowledge. Languages, science and numerical skills can be introduced in a fun way and performance massively improved at later stages. I know from my five-year-old grandson that French songs are being taught to him, so that is good, but we should be looking at the major world languages too if Scotland is to have the internationally important role we crave. As a matter of urgency, get the best available pre-school expertise to advise on the necessary changes.

Secondly, remove the national tendency to start school early (younger starters tend to ultimately underachieve) and finish as early as 16. I would suggest the earliest a child should start primary school is aged six, perhaps even seven. There should be six (fun-filled and stimulating) primary years as opposed to seven because the new P1s would start school with better educational achievement than P2 children have currently. Don't test the kids constantly, as this only tends to push many youngsters backwards.

Thirdly, secondary schools should provide five (not four) compulsory years for all children and any qualifications now achieved in sixth year can be taken in college, which is what many independent-minded youngsters now do anyway. This is one of the most important changes required because the attainment gap, so often cited with relish by the SNP's detractors, is in fact inbuilt into our current school set up. Youngsters should not be employed until they have left school and that would mean they would be 17 before they could enter the job market, even part-time. This is of course radical, but starting work at 14 prevents a child concentrating on achieving the skills necessary to have an interesting, diverse and successful working life - lifelong disadvantage.

Fourthly, curriculum. This should be wider and completely standardised across the country, including the private schools. Equal chances for all and joiners and electricians emerging from Fettes would be quite interesting, wouldn't it? Liaise with finance, business, industry and the sciences to ensure that the schools leavers have the wide range of skills needed, including a wider (more global) range of language skills.

There are many challenges in providing all the new courses schools we would require to provide but use of the internet and, especially in the latter stages of schooling, inter-school cooperation can help spread the burden of providing some of the more challenging courses, for example, vocational courses such as construction skills, plumbing or electrical courses or the many languages we ought to be teaching. 17-year-old school leavers entering the world of manual work would also already have many of the skills that current 16-year-old apprentices have to learn from scratch.

Our new educational system should be even broader than our traditional system and it should be truly egalitarian with opportunity opening up to a child from any background - aristocratic plumbers to the poorest child becoming an internationally respected and admired physicist. It was not the SNP who introduced the divisions of wealth and social strata to education, but they will earn our undying gratitude if they can remove these stains from our culture.

Finally, I am unsure that Gordon Brown's well-intentioned idea that children from lower-achieving schools should be placed in universities with less qualifications than other entrants is actually a good idea. A better solution would be to ensure that the failing schools are turned around and the children there get extra support whether it be behavioural or academic in the form of extra classes - whatever is required. Industry and finance could be encouraged to sponsor poorer children through tertiary education. The final area of educational disadvantage would thereby be removed.

Is all the above expensive? You bet it is but I for one don't have the educational skills to tell you how expensive! All I can say is that we printed billions of sparkly new notes to prop up dud banks. It will cost much less than that and would be a much better use of money than to perpetuate a failed economic model. Scotland's future success pivots on our young, so we must invest.

David Crines
Hamilton