But just because the politicians were engaged in shadow boxing doesn't mean nothing happened. Quite the opposite.

The government did a lot more than act like a caretaker in advance of Home Rule. Among significant initiatives: the National Grid for Learning was launched, the first steps were taken to reduce class sizes, and heavy emphasis was placed on early learning with every child in its pre-school year being offered a place where available.

There were also substantial amounts of new money, both in the current financial year and pledged for future years.

By the year's end, every state school in Scotland had established targets for performance. In the later years of secondary schooling these were based on marks in the major public exams. But early secondary and primary were given targets too - based on criteria such as literacy, numeracy and attendance. It was the first time that the first nine years of Scottish education had been made publicly accountable.

But while the government said the targets would drive up standards, not everyone was convinced. Headteachers were among the fiercest critics, not least because many suspected they would be made to carry the can if their schools failed to hit their targets.

Crisis

Other initiatives included the launch of New Community Schools, in effect education "one-stop shops" integrating education, social work and health services in an attempt to break the link between deprivation and underachievement. The government wants to see at least two New Community Schools in each of Scotland's education authorities by the end of 2002. Councils were invited to bid for a share of £26m in funding.

Pupils at the new schools will have personal learning plans encompassing their academic, social and emotional development. The plans were also an intriguing glimpse of the possible shape of Scottish politics under proportional representation at Holyrood, with policies becoming law because of the strength of their ideas rather than an overwhelming government majority.

But as 1998 progressed - and as the Scottish education minister's portfolio passed from Brian Wilson to Helen Liddell - a crisis loomed.

When the Higher Still programme had been unveiled by the Conservatives, it had been held out as a radical reform of the Scottish school leaving exams, making them more exacting but also giving less able pupils credit for the work they put in. But despite two postponements there were continued criticisms that the reforms were being rushed and under-resourced.

A series of warning shots from the teaching unions culminated in separate boycotts by the largest, the EIS, and the second-biggest, the SSTA. It took much tense talking by the unions, government, local councils and parents' representatives to get both actions called off. But while ministers said this meant Higher Still was back on course, union leaders made it clear they were much less confident that the new courses would be ready to be taught by the end of the summer holidays.

Shortcomings

Scottish education's perennially high self-regard took a knock when an inspectors' report into modern languages said standards were slipping. In the most scathing report of its kind, the HMIs said there were major failings virtually across the board.

Only 5% of schools were achieving "excellent" standards in the first four years of secondary teaching - and a quarter were unsatisfactory. The only area where standards were satisfactory was secondary five and six - but by then, only about one pupil in 10 was still learning a language. The government's response was an action group aimed at improving teaching methods.

Equally controversial was the government's wholehearted embracing of the Private Finance Initiative (PFI). In what was billed as the biggest ever investment in Scottish education, the Scottish Office announced its approval of a £300m package of private sector investment in schools involving eight councils and more than 70 schools.

The bulk of the money was for Glasgow, Scotland's biggest education authority. The council there wants to turn over the management of the city's state secondaries to a private consortium - although the actual teaching process would remain under council control.

But public-private partnerships are fiercely opposed by ancillary and teaching unions - and by some opposition parties. They say it threatens public service jobs - and local taxpayers will pay more in the long run.

Not a crisis

One disaster predicted for 1998 failed to happen. The introduction of tuition fees and the abolition of the student grant did not drive away students from Scottish universities.

Many potential undergraduates did appear to hesitate, making the numbers applying early in the year lower than before. But by the time term started applications were much healthier - even from England, whose students will have to pay an extra year's fees compared to their Scottish classmates.

The effects of fees and loans are more likely to be longer term: we may yet see increased drop-out rates or a political backlash against Labour as repayments start to bite.

A small but significant sign of the times occurred during the school exam season: the Scottish Qualifications Authority set its first Standard Grade examination in Urdu. It was a sign of Scotland's increasingly multicultural nature, with more candidates than for the Standard Grade for native speakers of Gaelic. It also drew a vote of confidence in the Scottish education system: one of the schools taking the new exam was in Pakistan.