Scottish education needs dramatic overhaul to improve results

IF FURTHER proof were needed that all is not well in the Scottish education system it has come in the form of yesterday's shocking Scottish Survey of Achievement (SSA) report, published by the government. The report paints a deeply worrying picture of school education.

Reading and writing skills among Scottish schoolchildren have not improved since 2005, it says. About 75 per cent of primary three children have well-established reading skills, but only 40 per cent of pupils in second year at secondary had the expected levels.

In writing skills, the SSA found almost all children surveyed at primary three were writing at expected levels, with almost 70 per cent writing at above their age level. But that falls to just 33 per cent reaching required standards for second year.

It is obvious why these figures should be of grave concern to parents, teachers and the politicians who control our once much admired education system.

There is little more important in life than being able to read and write. From these basic skills all else flows. Being able to read and write properly should be the inalienable right of all Scotland's schoolchildren.

That they have been denied that right is a nothing less than a scandal. It is something for which we should all take responsibility. Parents, for example, should encourage their children in reading and writing, and make sure they are prepared to learn in school.

However, the major responsibility for this deplorable state of affairs lies with the teachers, educationalists who teach the teachers, the education officials who administer the system and – ultimately – the politicians who set the policies.

In this context, the criticism by Labour and the Liberal Democrats of the SNP-led Scottish Government strike a hollow note for they were in power for eight years and failed to address the problem. The Tories can, perhaps, be taken a little more seriously and their proposal for more rigorous testing of school pupils has some merit.

However, it is clear from this report that there needs to be a fundamental overhaul of education in Scotland and in this respect the suggestion yesterday by education secretary Michael Russell that he is open to new ideas and keen to promote diversity of provision is a welcome breath of fresh air.

Unlike his predecessor Fiona Hyslop, Mr Russell is ready to admit that all is not well in the system and he welcomes any ideas that might lead to improvements. As a starting point he might consider the new Curriculum for Excellence, which is held by many to be a panacea for all the ills of the reductions system, but which well-respected academics such as Professor Lindsay Paterson of Edinburgh University say is woolly and vague.

A simplification of Curriculum for Excellence, combined with a study of the way teachers are trained to teach reading and writing, and a look at teaching methods – including the much derided but apparently successful phonic system – would be a good start for Mr Russell if Scotland's reputation for education is to be restored.