Brightest pupils 5 years ahead of poorest

FIFTEEN-year-old children at the bottom of the class are so far behind they are performing “as if they were ten years old”, a report handed to MSPs has claimed.

The paper, written by local government experts, concluded that Scotland has the highest gap between top and bottom in schools of anywhere in western Europe.

It confirms previous studies by international bodies which have also claimed that low achievers from poor families are “slipping through the net” in the classroom.

The report prompted calls by opposition parties for the Scottish Government to focus more on inequalities within attainment, to stave off concerns of an educational underclass.

However, other education experts said the figures could be a sign that the top 20 per cent were simply being stretched, and argued that schools should not dump excellence in the bid to drive out inequality.

The report, written by the politically-neutral Improvement Service, was handed to MSPs on Holyrood’s finance committee which is holding an inquiry into inequalities in Scotland.

Colin Mair, chief executive of the Improvement Service, said: “There are some communities in Scotland living lives that are exemplary by international standards who would be among the best in the world with very good health, very good incomes and a very high level of safety in their communities.

“But there are other parts of Scotland where these things cluster negatively, which is the crux point of the report.

“It’s not a rosy picture but one where we need now a ministerial commitment to this, as well as a commitment through the parliament to the programme for government that we should target and localise and integrate around those particular communities that are very vulnerable.”

Scotland’s headline data on educational performance compares well with other European countries, the report says.

“On the raw data, Scotland is above Scandinavian and northern European countries typically taken to be more socially effective than we are,” it says.

It also says that while the average figures look good, they mask massive variations, which are wider than in any other comparable country in Europe. For example, in linguistic and maths tests at age 15, the report notes that Scotland comes fifth in Europe, above Norway, Sweden, England and France.

But, it adds: “The problem...is that the gap between the top 20 per cent and the bottom 20 per cent in Scotland is the widest in developed Europe with the bottom 20 per cent at age 15 performing as if they have five years less schooling than the top 20 per cent (ie as if they were ten years old).” Professor Lindsay Paterson, of Edinburgh University, said: “The most common reaction to this will be to say, ‘Isn’t it awful’. But we really need to think carefully about Scotland’s attitude to education performance and we must not pull down excellence in the rush to stamp our inequality.”

Committee member Michael McMahon said: “The committee has put into sharp focus the extent of inequality in Scotland. Unfortunately, progress has stalled and a lot of the evidence we are picking up is that it is because this government is not focused on these issues and does not see them as a priority.”

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “Curriculum for Excellence provides a base for raising attainment through the development of core skills, literacy and numeracy, effective approaches to learning and the achievement of qualifications.”