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Original poster

Cultural differences Scotland and England

779 replies

CauleyMacGlochlin · 11/02/2024 15:14

So surprised to see on a recent thread that in England secondary school pupils are often not allowed out of school for lunch until 6th form, which Google tells me means 16-18. I'm gobsmacked. I've never heard of anything like this in Scotland and I've lived all over the country (grew up in Glasgow and moved around in adulthood)

I also recently discovered that English school pupils can't leave education at 16. They have to stay in education til 18 unless they have an apprenticeship.

Got me thinking about cultural differences between the countries that I've maybe been oblivious all this time. Any others?

OP posts:

Thread gallery

Heather37231 · 12/02/2024 09:24

SummerDays2020 · 12/02/2024 09:10

It would have been great if my DD's Primary fed into a decent Secondary and they all went there. As it is, there are 2 Secondaries who's catchment takes half of the Primary's catchment each. Both not great schools but our one the worst. Then we have Grammar's and RC schools.

So out of my DD's friendship group of 4 girls- one went to one Comprehensive and one to the other, one went to a Grammar and my DD to the RC school.

My DC have a Granny and a Grandma. My Scottish friend calls her grandmother Nana.

At my chip shop you can buy a Cod special which is a small piece of Cod with a small portion of chips. Anything else you say separately for example a medium cod and large chips.

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An English fish and chip shop may require you to say “Cod and chips” but they usually have a combined price for the “and chips” option. So it’s no different to saying “a fish supper”.

I quite like that the opposite of a supper in Scotland is “a single fish”.

As for skin on and off in England, essentially the situation seems to be that in England some chippies leave it on (though only one side) and others take it off completely. In Scotland it is always removed completely.

SirChenjins · 12/02/2024 09:29

PlumpAndDeliciousFatcat · 12/02/2024 09:11

The point about salary is true (just) - starting salaries in England are now 30k, and I think Scottish probationers start on about 31.5k?

However I think I am correct in saying that Scottish pay scales don’t have any regional weighting for teachers working in more expensive areas, eg Aberdeen or Edinburgh? English pay scales have regional weighting for inner and outer London, and the ‘fringe’ around the city.

You are misinformed on teacher qualifications. Teaching remains a graduate
profession in England. You might have heard that some schools can employ unqualified teachers but this means that they don’t have QTS, not that they don’t have degrees.

Show quote history

Probationers start on just over £32k and after five years of teaching the salary is £48.5k. No weighting for the more expensive areas, probably because 48.5k is a decent salary and many people live in the towns and suburbs around Edinburgh anyway and commute in. You could get a flat in Edinburgh on a salary of 48.5k - not a massive one, but certainly doable.

WeegieWan · 12/02/2024 09:31

Is the whole leaving school at 16 in Scotland and 18 in England down to the fact you are legally an adult at 16 in Scotland but it's 18 in England?

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

General education

Cancelledcurio · 12/02/2024 09:32

@XDownwiththissortofthingX you work with addicts? Are they (and your employers) aware you describe them as "junkies"?

SummerDays2020 · 12/02/2024 09:32

Cancelledcurio · 12/02/2024 05:17

@AutumnFroglets The last time I had a fish supper in Scotland (, Glasgow) it was some teeny wee defrosted bit of haddock, mostly batter and crap chips. You need to taste fish n chips( or a fish supper as I say) in a South Coast of England town ! Gorgeous and so fresh ! But I miss pakora . They don't do pakora down here. I miss that alot.

I'm surprised you say that about pakoras. They're standard menu items here in SE England. Is it a particular type of pakoras we don't have?

AllProperTeaIsTheft · 12/02/2024 09:35

Is the whole leaving school at 16 in Scotland and 18 in England down to the fact you are legally an adult at 16 in Scotland but it's 18 in England?

No, it was only raised to 18 from 16 in 2015. Apparently it was decided on because of the reduction in unskilled jobs and 'to equip young people for work in the modern job market'.

SummerDays2020 · 12/02/2024 09:35

XDownwiththissortofthingX · 12/02/2024 05:26

Brought up in a household that more or less exclusively spoke Doric Scots between ourselves. Absolutely befuddled most visitors and guests and I usually had to translate, even for other Scots. Plain bread was the staple, with a pan loaf being viewed with suspicion and only really kept if there was an expectation of guests. The other thing I remember distinctly is that before you could order anything from the chipper you had to first resolve the question of "chips or fritters?" and woe betide you if you ever just assumed chips by default.

What is plain bread?

Itslegitimatesalvage · 12/02/2024 09:38

NeedToChangeName · 12/02/2024 08:00

In Scotland, tea is your evening meal

And supper is an evening snack eg toast at 9pm

No it isn’t. I’m Scottish, I’ve known a handful of people who say tea for their evening meal but literally a handful. Everyone I’ve known in south Lanarkshire, then uni in glasgow, then Aberdeen them back to south Lanarkshire says breakfast, lunch and dinner. I do think it’s a hangover from the old class system and how you’re grandparents would have spoken.

Seymour5 · 12/02/2024 09:39

Accents and dialects vary across Scotland, there isn’t just one. Dundee is very different to Glasgow, and in Aberdeen and beyond its different again. ‘Fit like?’ means ‘how are you?’ In the North East. Dundonian can be almost unintelligible, it’s spoken quickly, with the word ‘eh’ replacing ‘yes’and ‘I’. You might hear ‘Eh, eh wis’., which translated means ‘Yes, I was’.

Dundee doesn’t have traffic roundabouts, it has circles.

SummerDays2020 · 12/02/2024 09:40

sashh · 12/02/2024 07:02

It's employment, education or training until you are 18.

But it is difficult for 16 year olds to get work. I know someone who did it but she was working for her mother.

Cod being the default fish in a fish and chip shop and having to pay more for haddock. Also having to buy the fish and chips separately

That depends where you are in England.

In Yorkshire you will get haddock and the chips fried in beef dripping.

In the south it could be anything and the skin is left on.

I have never seen any chipy charge for fish and chips separately. I've lived and / or worked studies in

Yorkshire
Lancashire
Oxford
London
Leicester
Manchester
Birmingham
Coventry

I'd also say the Chinese and Indian food depends where you are. Eg sweet and sour pork / chicken might be in batter with seperate sauce, or it can be a rock hard sauce on the meat.

Indian - well I prefer Bengali curry but I have the option of about 5 different regions to choose from.

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Standard to charge for fish and chips separately here in Essex. So you can have different sizes if you want i.e a large cod with medium chips.

Puffalicious · 12/02/2024 09:41

Heather37231 · 12/02/2024 01:21

In Scotland we often use possessives when and English person would not.

For example

“I’m going to my bed”
”Your Dad’s still not home from his work”
”We’re going to Spain on our holidays”
“What do you want for your Christmas?”

“Away” means “off to” eg
”I’m away to the shops”

And one of my favourites is simply “That’s me” or “That’s you”. It means “You're all done” or “I’m finished”.
“That’s me away” is a combination of the above.

I'm smiling so hard here. I suppose I'd never thought of it in such definite terms, but I do ALL of these, everyday. They all come from my mam. I miss her ❤️.

SummerDays2020 · 12/02/2024 09:43

Doublenoogahsilvousplait · 12/02/2024 07:15

@sashh

A few posters have said the same but according to the .gov website you have to remain either in full time education or an apprenticeship. If you're working you have to be in part time education.

www.gov.uk/know-when-you-can-leave-school#:~:text=Scotland,holidays%20in%20that%20school%20year.

In Scotland you can simply leave school at 16.

I think yes you are meant to be in education. The reality is that some kids still leave education at 16. There doesn't seem to be anything in place to compel them to continue studies beyond 16.

SummerDays2020 · 12/02/2024 09:44

willowstar · 12/02/2024 07:19

Butteries/rowies

The word 'outwith'. I can't understand why it isn't used in England.

Outwith is a word I hear occasionally here in England but I would say it's quite old fashioned. We would say 'outside of'

SummerDays2020 · 12/02/2024 09:48

Heather37231 · 12/02/2024 08:03

I remember being baffled by TV adverts for Mars Bars when I was a child- “Caramel, noogah and chocolate”.

However in my part of Scotland we called the ice cream marshmallow thing a chocolate wafer. I actually never used “nugget”.

The ice cream man used to come round at about 9pm and blow a whistle because it was too late for chimes. My parents would often go out to buy cigarettes or fizzy drinks from the van and sometimes my Dad would come back with a chocolate wafer as well.

I've heard about these before - Scottish ice cream vans seem to sell everything! Here it's just ice cream!

Doublenoogahsilvousplait · 12/02/2024 09:50

GrannyAchingsShepherdsHut · 12/02/2024 09:15

@PlumpAndDeliciousFatcat I wonder if PP was referring to the way TAs regularly teach classes solo? I think I saw a thread a while ago that that's not allowed in Scotland? I may be wrong!

I don't think we have the same thing in Scotland. There are teachers and learning assistants. Learning assistants don't take classes. They take groups of children out of the class to do focused work.

SummerDays2020 · 12/02/2024 09:51

Yolo12345 · 12/02/2024 08:28

Oh and you have to have a degree to be a teacher in Scotland, whereas not necessarily in England.

And free school meal provision is universal up to a certain age in Scotland, whereas not necessarily down South.

Starting salaries are higher for teachers also (in state provision) in Scotland

We have universal free school meals for Infant age - Key stage 1 - Reception to Y2.

misssunshine4040 · 12/02/2024 09:55

@Itslegitimatesalvage I'm Scottish too and tea is used in place of dinner .
Maybe it's area dependent as I'm the East and the majority of people I know refer to dinner as their tea.

cordeliachaseatemyhandbag · 12/02/2024 09:55

AngelinaFibres · 11/02/2024 20:56

Stayed in a hotel in Scotland. The restaurant meal on Sunday was called Sunday tea. Fair enough. It was toast and jam first followed by huge Sunday roast followed by a 3 tiered cake stand filled with cakes,scones and sandwiches. If was obviously a big thing because there were big family groups gathering together. Loved it actually but couldn't eat anything like all of it.

That's a high tea.

SingingSands · 12/02/2024 09:56

In Scotland.. particularly in Glasgow... if someone asks you which school you went to, they're asking to find out if you're Protestant or Catholic.

In Scotland... distance is measured in time. How far is Glasgow to Oban? About 2 hours 😄

Garlicdoughball · 12/02/2024 09:57

misssunshine4040 · 12/02/2024 09:55

@Itslegitimatesalvage I'm Scottish too and tea is used in place of dinner .
Maybe it's area dependent as I'm the East and the majority of people I know refer to dinner as their tea.

Which your guests will have had pre-arrival 😆

SummerDays2020 · 12/02/2024 09:59

Heather37231 · 12/02/2024 09:24

An English fish and chip shop may require you to say “Cod and chips” but they usually have a combined price for the “and chips” option. So it’s no different to saying “a fish supper”.

I quite like that the opposite of a supper in Scotland is “a single fish”.

Edited

Show quote history

Around here the price of the chips depends what size you have. So small cod with a large chips costs more than small cod with medium chips. You have to specify what size chips you want. If you just said a large cod and chips they'd ask what size chips.

SinnerBoy · 12/02/2024 09:59

XDownwiththissortofthingX· Today 05:26

Brought up in a household that more or less exclusively spoke Doric Scots between ourselves. Absolutely befuddled most visitors and guests and I usually had to translate, even for other Scots.

When I moved to Aberdeen, I had a little trouble for the first few weeks, but was then OK. I just asked what words meant, I didn't know if I was being insulted when someone first asked, "Fit like, loon?"

We went alongside in Fraserburgh and I was talking to people in the pub, two young Home Counties women (colleagues) asked me what language they were speaking and how I could understand!

😃

Doublenoogahsilvousplait · 12/02/2024 10:00

SingingSands · 12/02/2024 09:56

In Scotland.. particularly in Glasgow... if someone asks you which school you went to, they're asking to find out if you're Protestant or Catholic.

In Scotland... distance is measured in time. How far is Glasgow to Oban? About 2 hours 😄

God yes, why is this? I drive about to work and if anyone asks "how was the drive?" I'll reply "oh not bad, was less than an hour."

Do English people do this?

Puffalicious · 12/02/2024 10:01

XDownwiththissortofthingX · 12/02/2024 05:32

@Cancelledcurio

Scotland's drug death problem is a hangover from the 70's and 80's. We have a load of folk in their 50's and 60's who are still dealing with the health effects of either being former addicts, still using, or a combination of using and being parked on Methadone and Benzodiazepines for decades. It's kinda mis-portrayed by detractors because it suits them to imply Scots youngsters are dying in droves, but it isn't the truth. Deaths in under-24's in Scotland are lower than the rest of the UK. We have a problem distinct to us, i.e. junkies approaching retirement age, hence why so many of them are still dropping dead 30-40 years on from the heroin heyday.

This. It suits the dialogue of many to portray our society as the same as it was 40 years ago. I've grown up & live in Glasgow: it's a diverse, culturally rich, friendly, beautiful place to live. There's the whole gamut of socio-ecomonic representation - as there is there in every big city- and my older teen DC love living here. My children have no religion, don't support either 'colour' of blue or green (they play rugby) & have never seen an Orange walk in their lives. They spend a lot of time in the great outdoors & have a particular love of climbing, mountain biking & surfing.

But they do love tablet/ Irn Bru/ steak pie/ plain bread.

Mrsjayy · 12/02/2024 10:02

Garlicdoughball · 12/02/2024 09:06

Well fired rolls - another culinary abomination. Must have been part of a PR campaign at a time of food shortage to stop burnt ones being thrown in the bin.

I remember we had a working bakery in our village and the burnt rolls were always given away at the back door early in the morning then the shop started selling them. I wonder if this happened other places so it became a thing?

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