Scottish Greens urge SNP to '˜copy our homework' on school policy

The Scottish Greens have urged the government to 'copy their homework' on education policies to close the attainment gap.
The Greens have issued the government a 'report card'. Picture: Dave Thompson/PA WireThe Greens have issued the government a 'report card'. Picture: Dave Thompson/PA Wire
The Greens have issued the government a 'report card'. Picture: Dave Thompson/PA Wire

The party’s education spokesman Ross Greer issued Ministers with a “report card” outlining the results of the government’s education policy, including a 20% drop in teacher pay and 3,500 fewer teachers in 10 years.

It also highlights the 16% gap in educational attainment between the most deprived pupils and their more affluent peers, and marks the government performance as “needs improvement”.

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It states: “The Scottish Government is performing poorly in education and would benefit from a change in attitude.

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“They are having trouble working well with others and need to focus more on co-operation and teamwork.”

The party also published a policy paper outlining their proposals for education entitled Level the Playing Field: High Quality Education for All.

Among the pledges made are to restore teachers’ pay to help address recruitment and retention, to train all teachers on Additional Support Needs and to mandate consent-based sex and relationship education in all schools.

The paper also contains a series of pledges aimed at addressing poverty in order to tackle the attainment gap, such as giving all pupils access to breakfast and lunch, including in the school holidays.

Further proposals include topping up child benefit by £5 a week and free bus travel for young people.

Mr Greer said: “The SNP’s education report card could be defined by one line, ‘needs improvement’.

“The core issue facing Scottish education today is not governance structures or lack of tests but a decade of budget cuts which have left school short-staffed, under-resourced and with unsustainable workloads for those who are left.

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“Given the poverty-related attainment gap doesn’t start in classrooms though, measures to tackle poverty at source will do just as much, if not more, to help pupils from deprived backgrounds as any measures taken in schools.

“If the Scottish Government really wants to close the attainment gap they should copy our homework.”