Has the Scottish Attainment Challenge (SAC) worked? The consensus among expert witnesses gathered today seemed to be that we just can’t tell.
While they agreed that the SAC had fuelled a lot of good work in schools, there had also been “dubious” projects and a conspicuous lack of firm evidence to discern what was making a difference.
The first session of the Scottish Attainment Challenge Inquiry saw Tory MSP Stephen Kerr ask simply: “Has it worked?”
First to respond was Greg Dempster, general secretary of primary school leaders’ body AHDS, who said that if the measure was whether the “poverty-related attainment gap” had closed, then “plainly that has not happened, so if that’s what you mean, then, no, it hasn’t achieved that”.
However, there was a “but”: Dempster added that “obviously we are not hugely far along this road”, AHDS members welcomed the SAC funding, agreed with its purpose and could see progress.
The inquiry is being run by Scottish Parliament’s Education, Children and Young People Committee. Stephen Kerr, its convener, put his same blunt question to the three other witnesses, including Andrea Bradley, assistant secretary (education and quality) at the EIS teaching union.
She said it was too early to determine whether the SAC - to which the Scottish government is allocating £1 billion over the course of this five-year parliament - had worked: there were some good signs in schools but also some “dubious” projects, and a lack of ways to discern effectiveness had been an issue.
Mike Corbett, Scotland national official for the NASUWT union, said that the SAC had led to some good practice but that teachers struggled to share it effectively. He also pointed to significant cultural changes, with schools less likely to ask for donations for events such as non-uniform days, now that awareness of the cost of the school day has grown.
Corbett suggested that the SAC focus on attainment was too narrow but conceded that it was tricky to assess other, less easily measured aspects of learning.
Jim Thewliss, general secretary of School Leaders Scotland, said that the SAC had been good for schools, and had had an impact on pupils’ learning, but would benefit from a more coherent, longitudinal approach. Evidence of the SAC’s positive impact was too anecdotal and needed to be more refined and data-based.
But can the Scottish Attainment Challenge ever truly be said to work? There is an oft-heard argument that initiatives such as the SAC are a convenient smokescreen for politicians of all stripes: as they argue over the SAC’s merits or otherwise, they deflect attention from their failures in addressing more fundamental issues in society.
As many a weary teacher will point out, their profession is constantly being asked to take the strain when politicians fail to get to grips with the root causes of poverty - the SAC providing only the latest example in a long history of diversionary tactics.
In the second parliamentary term of the SAC, demonstrating its impact may be even more important than before - because Covid has exacerbated many of the problems that SAC money was supposed to help resolve.
Today’s committee heard anecdotal evidence that, since the pandemic started, teachers have become increasingly concerned about pupils’ socialisation, and their ability to concentrate and communicate, while mobile devices are now more distracting than ever and behaviour issues have been multiplying.
The SAC has undoubtedly done some good but it will remain relatively ineffectual if bigger pictures remain out of focus. Only last week, University of Aberdeen research highlighted the growing impact of poverty on babies, even before they are born, while Covid has hit some of our most vulnerable children the hardest.
Teachers’ commitment to improving the lives of their pupils is a given - but it should not be exploited to divert attention from profound problems that lie beyond the school gates.
Henry Hepburn is Scotland editor at Tes. He tweets @Henry_Hepburn
