Scottish education in ‘freefall’ after SNP mismanagement, claim Tories

The party will highlight the Scottish Government’s ‘abysmal record’ in a Holyrood debate

Picture: Ben Birchall/PA Wire

Education in Scotland is in "freefall" after 16 years of SNP mismanagement, the Scottish Conservatives have claimed.

The party will highlight the Scottish Government’s "abysmal record” in a Holyrood debate tomorrow, a week after pupils in Scotland slipped down international rankings.

The Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) showed Scotland’s attainment in reading, maths and science has dropped.

The report – which surveyed 3,300 Scottish 15-year-olds and includes 81 other countries – also featured statistics about violence and school discipline.

It found 35.8 per cent of Scottish pupils said they have seen someone hurt at their school, compared with an average of 17 per cent across the other nations.

Tory MSP Liam Kerr, the party’s education spokesman, said: “Scotland’s education system, which was once the envy of the world, is in freefall after 16 years of SNP mismanagement.

“The latest Pisa report highlighted that Scotland is going backwards when it comes to reading, maths and science – and lagging way behind performance levels in England. The survey also highlighted the alarming levels of violence and antisocial behaviour in Scottish schools.

“But Pisa is just the latest evidence of the SNP’s shameful failure in education – and there would be even more had ministers not cynically pulled Scotland out of other international league tables to save face.

“A whole generation of children have been failed by the SNP’s broken promise to eradicate the poverty-related attainment gap and their disastrous implementation of Curriculum for Excellence, while teaching staff have been subjected to unprecedented levels of physical and verbal abuse.

“For 16 years, successive education secretaries have neglected our education system, and students and staff have suffered the consequences. It’s simply unacceptable.

“That’s why the Scottish Conservatives will use our party business slot this week to turn the spotlight on the SNP’s abysmal record in education, and outline the measures we would take to restore standards.”

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said Covid had “impacted on attendance, behaviour and achievement but we cannot and will not accept this as the new normal”.

She said: “Since Pisa was conducted, wider evidence from both the 2023 national qualification results show clear evidence of an ongoing recovery which we are determined to build on.

“Scotland’s performance in the Pisa assessments was above the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) average in reading and similar to the OECD average in maths and science. This was also the case in the previous survey, in 2018. However we are not satisfied with these results and this Government’s focus is on improvement.

“[Education secretary Jenny Gilruth] has welcomed views from a range of stakeholders on issues associated with changing behaviour in Scotland’s schools. It’s clear that post-pandemic behavioural changes in classrooms are affecting schools across the UK and the Pisa assessment showed that pupils in Scotland were less likely to witness issues with behaviour in school than in other parts of the UK.

“The cabinet secretary has already committed to a joint national action plan, to set out a range of actions at national, local and school level, to support improved behaviour.”

The Pisa results showed Scotland’s average reading score was 493 – higher than the average for other countries, but a fall of 11 points from the 2018 score of 504. The country also lagged behind England’s score of 496.

For maths and science, Scotland fell slightly below average, scoring 471 and 483 respectively – the second consecutive decline as it fell further on the 2018 rankings. Scotland placed third across the UK on the two subjects, behind England’s 492 in maths and 503 in science, with only Wales scoring less on 466 and 473.

However, decline was reported across the UK, with the Pisa report noting “unprecedented” results as the average score fell by 15 points in maths and ten in reading. It said the Covid pandemic was an “obvious factor”.

Ms Gilruth is expected to make a statement to MSPs on literacy and numeracy today.

The First Minister previously said the Pisa results were “not good enough”, adding: “Let me put it on record and let me be absolutely explicit – we do not dismiss, I do not dismiss, nor take lightly the Pisa results that have been released this week.

“We are reflecting on a poor set of results and the education secretary will make a statement next week on the issue of literacy and numeracy and what our response is to improving those outcomes.”

Over the weekend, Gillian Keegan, the UK education secretary, warned Scotland’s school standards have “plummeted” because Scottish ministers prioritised “nationalist politics” above pupils. Writing in Scotland on Sunday, she delivered a scathing verdict on First Minister Humza Yousaf’s education record.

Ms Keegan, a Chichester MP, said Scotland was “once the envy of the world for education”, but warned the latest results were a “tale of two records”, with England “continuing to rise up the international rankings versus a failing Scottish system at the brink of collapse”.

She said: “This situation hasn’t happened by chance. Different parts of the UK have taken fundamentally different (approaches) to education. Under the SNP, standards have plummeted due to their progressive ideology they have refused to follow our lead on academisation, they have watered down the rigour of their exams and they have refused to open themselves up for scrutiny, pulling out of two international rankings.”

Ms Keegan said Scottish children had been “let down by the SNP”.