 Y Vote Stories:
Stirling High School
Modern Studies teacher John McTaggart, talks about his experience of mock elections:
Some of my most enjoyable times in education have involved mock elections. When you think of what we are trying to do in schools these days; develop enterprise, creativity, initiative, team working, communication skills, risk taking, mock elections develop all these capacities. And, they are great fun!
As a teacher you get the chance to see talents you never knew pupils had and to make relationships with a whole lot of new people, on the staff as well as within the pupil population. My favourite of all was the Labour landslide of 1997 when I was teaching at Stirling High School. The Campaign
Stirling in 1997 was a Conservative seat, held by Secretary of State, Michael Forsyth. This was before the Scottish Parliament came in. The election was led by the Modern Studies department, but other school departments made a big contribution. The Labour team were based in English, with its excellent IT facilities. SNP were based in CDT, the Liberals seemed to be always in the assembly hall, and I had the Tories. What a team the Tories were. I say, a team, they were really just one guy. He was Tory boy of Harry Enfield fame. But he wasn’t a toff, he was a working class guy, who was just very interested in politics and maybe it was the teenage rebellion thing. Everyone in his peer group was either Labour or SNP, and he was always an original thinker. He actually knew Conservative policies on a wide range of issues and believed in them. The Conservative team was the candidate and two wee 1st girls he’d never met before. They followed him everywhere. They put up his posters and stood behind him when he made his speeches. I wonder where they are now?!
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Labour’s team was comprised of about ten senior girls. They were everything you would expect of a Labour campaign in 1997. I don’t think I have ever seen such a formidable campaign. They had the best posters, the most daring stunts and were everywhere. At one point they had “Vote Labour” in massive red cardboard on the windows facing outwards from a classroom. You could see it for miles. Someone complained to the Head Master and he asked us to insert “in the school mock election” at the end. The Lib Dems were a great team too. They were cool. And I mean cool. Their campaign consisted of playing jazz, every lunchtime, in the assembly hall. They never put up a single “Vote Lib Dem” poster anywhere. They just advertised their jazz. They were a right good band too.  The Result
The SNP won and this was, in large part, the work of their candidate. He gave a fantastic speech on election day. With the entire school in the assembly hall the SNP did everything right. The others made the classic mistake of speaking for too long. Explaining details of policy. Few people in this charged environment are interested in such things. Instead, the SNP candidate, kept it simple. No detail. No policy. No costings. None of that boring stuff! He entered the stage in a torrent of ticker tape of paper cuttings, draped in a Saltire. He bawled “Freedom!!” The school after all was just around the corner from Stirling Bridge. Braveheart wasn’t long out. The SNP knew their audience and gave them what they wanted to hear. The SNP won by a barrowload. Labour came second. The Lib Dems came third. The Conservatives came fourth. but the candidate made the most of this experience and went on to become President of Edinburgh University Students Union!
Maybe all the pupils had these creative talents already. How much the mock elections helped cannot be easily measured. But, we all learned a lot in those mad two weeks. We had a lot of fun and made memories no-one involved will ever forget.
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