Commentary: 'A flawed and inaccurate report'

Published on Sunday 8 November 2009 21:40

THE Reform Scotland report is flawed on many levels and relies on inaccurate comparisons and dubious use of statistics to justify its conclusions. It has the look of a poorly disguised assault on Scotland's comprehensive education system.

It makes sweeping statements such as "billions of pounds have been wasted" without any credible evidence. It makes ill-founded comparisons between the education and examination systems in Scotland and England, ignoring the fact that the two are markedly different in their design and operation. For example, higher spending per pupil in Scotland is highlighted as a negative, ignoring simple geographical facts. Population sparsity is far greater in Scotland than south of the Border, which inevitably leads to higher costs per pupil.

Scotland will always have a much larger proportion of very small schools in comparison with England. Clearly, this will reduce economies of scale and make spending in Scotland appear proportionately higher.

The report also attempts to draw direct comparisons between exam results, conveniently skirting around the fact that the two systems are different.

Scotland has fared consistently well in international studies, which are far more in-depth and wide-ranging than Reform Scotland's superficial fixation with the single indicator of five exam passes.

The recommendations at the end of the report suggest publishing league tables is the solution to all of Scotland's problems.

This represents a remarkably nave view of the world, which thankfully is not shared by most parents, teachers or, indeed, by the Scottish Government.

Scotland is already taking major steps to enhance the learning experience for pupil through the Curriculum for Excellence. This is where we should be concentrating our efforts, not in a backward-looking and fundamentally flawed, target-setting league table agenda.

&#149 Ronnie Smith is the general secretary of the teaching union EIS