Early intervention for poorest kids must be top priority - Brian Wilson

A generation has passed since I was Scottish education minister in the pre-devolution interregnum, but one lesson never left me - the importance of early intervention to education and society more widely.
Bags containing meals for school children during lockdown. Picture: HOLLIE ADAMS/AFP via Getty ImagesBags containing meals for school children during lockdown. Picture: HOLLIE ADAMS/AFP via Getty Images
Bags containing meals for school children during lockdown. Picture: HOLLIE ADAMS/AFP via Getty Images

My teacher was the late Elizabeth McGuinness, who chaired the education committee of Lothian Regional. She asked me to see what was being achieved through pilot schemes in a couple of Edinburgh’s most deprived areas.

The results were spectacular. Early intervention is not just about the classroom but also the home, from birth. The roots of inter-generational deprivation lie in the inability of parents – who have usually the best intentions – to help. So they too need support.

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During my brief stint, I threw the kitchen sink at early intervention, including pre-school provision and an army of classroom assistants. The civil servants didn’t like it because it was resource intensive – and the value was not entirely quantifiable.

I was reminded of all that when I heard this week about a report from the Education Policy Institute that only 20 per cent of “education catch-up” money in Scotland is being devoted to the most deprived pupils.

Yet heaven knows what further damage has been done to little kids in the most challenging environments who have missed out on their early schooling, with minimal help in homes where there may be little technology or parental input. Surely they must be the top priority.

We need to review some fundamentals in the wake of the pandemic. If the logic is to put resources where damage is greatest and needs most desperate, then early intervention should top the list. A lot else is worthy, but can wait.

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