We may have a new first minister and a new education secretary, but there was little new about the messages in Jenny Gilruth’s letter to Scottish teachers issued this week - and also some significant omissions.
In it, Gilruth said that, as the new education secretary, she planned to continue the “relentless focus on closing the poverty-related attainment gap” and ensure that “real improvement” came out of the ongoing education reforms - including that the organisations that replace the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) and Education Scotland “work better” to meet the needs of young people and teachers.
Neither of these priorities - either to close the gap or to make ongoing reform count - is contrary to what many schools and teachers want.
No one thinks pupils from deprived backgrounds leaving school with a clutch of qualifications that too frequently pale in comparison with those gained by their better-off peers is acceptable. And teachers and heads, like Gilruth, obviously want the reform of the qualifications and assessment - as well as the SQA and Education Scotland - to be meaningful (rather than the alternative - a pointless waste of time).
This week, the new Scottish government - under first minister Humza Yousaf - also set out its priorities for the remainder of the 2021-26 parliament, with Yousaf hailing “a fresh start for the Scottish government under new leadership”.
In a document published to coincide with Yousaf’s speech to the Scottish Parliament on Tuesday, each cabinet secretary set out what they planned to achieve by 2026.
Again, when it came to education, closing the gap featured, with Gilruth promising to continue “to focus on closing the poverty-related attainment gap whilst raising attainment for all”. On qualifications, she promised “an equitable, accessible, valid and reliable qualifications system for all”. On education reform, she promised that “new national education bodies will have clearer roles and responsibilities”.
But a government pledge that could make a tangible difference to teacher workload - the promise to cut the time teachers spend in front of classes by 90 minutes a week - did not even get a passing mention.
As well as failing to mention this widely welcomed commitment on class-contact time, some other high-profile education promises of recent years - such as “lead teachers” or free school meals for all primary pupils - were either omitted altogether or only referenced in vague, non-committal terms.
Gilruth did, however, make one more concrete pledge: to rejoin the Trends in International Mathematics and Science (Timss) and Progress in International Reading Literacy (Pirls) studies. Scotland was withdrawn from these surveys in 2010 by Michael Russell, who was education secretary at the time.
That decision came as a surprise, but the rest of Gilruth’s contribution covered more familiar territory.
More interesting than what the new cabinet secretary’s priorities are is this: how she is going to deliver them?
Unfortunately, based on the government’s record in education in recent years, business as usual often means policy stasis as usual.
The aspirations of Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) are a long way from being realised in Scottish secondary schools; the Scottish qualifications regime needs a meaningful overhaul; and there has been scant progress in closing the attainment gap.
The key ‘mission’ of tackling poverty
In his speech yesterday, Yousaf identified continuing to tackle poverty as one of three “missions” that will define the work of the government.
More focus on what happens beyond the school gates to improve the lives of Scotland’s most disadvantaged children will be welcomed by educators, who have frequently said a whole-society problem such as poverty cannot be solved by schools alone.
It is accepted that schools have a role to play, but the government cannot continue to talk up the millions being ploughed into closing the gap while failing to acknowledge that schools’ core budgets have been chipped away at for years.
Former education secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville took steps to stop teacher numbers from falling (albeit after they had started to fall). Gilruth needs to make sure that schools are adequately funded and properly staffed so they can afford to offer a broad curriculum and the rounded education experience envisaged by CfE - and now also by the interim report of the Hayward qualifications and assessment review. It is calling for a Scottish Diploma of Achievement to be introduced that captures not just qualifications, but interests, hobbies and much besides.
The thinking behind the proposed diploma was recently embraced by secondary school leaders, but it would have resource implications, they warned.
When it comes to education reform, two key issues need to be addressed: a widely perceived lack of teacher involvement and a lack of clarity about how all the strands of reform knit together.
The design of the new inspectorate, qualifications body and national education agency has started - indeed, operating models for the new bodies were supposed to be in place by the end of 2022, although that deadline has apparently slipped. However, the results of the national discussion that closed in December have yet to be published and it is unclear how the work of the review of qualifications and assessment will marry with the work of the board taking forward the reform of the SQA.
Then there is also the skills review that is due to report this spring.
Actions rather than words
Gilruth, as a former teacher, has some goodwill in the bank and there will be an acceptance that unpicking the tangled web of reforms, reviews and consultations takes more than the few short weeks she has been in post. Nevertheless, she could have given more credence to her promise to work closely with the profession by setting out some concrete ways in which she planned to do just that - perhaps starting with how she would ensure teacher involvement in education reform that is more than tokenistic.
Responding to Yousaf’s statement yesterday, Save the Children said there was “a golden opportunity to turn intention into action” on child poverty. The charity was disappointed, however, that thus far the first minister had “failed to take the bold decisions Scotland’s children so desperately need”.
The same can be said of education: we know much of what the government intends to do and the headline aims carry a lot of support, but now we need to see action and bold decisions - not the copying and pasting of past pledges.
However, the decision to rejoin Pirls and Timss gives a glimmer of hope, suggesting that Gilruth is willing to reverse bad choices and face up to challenges - cost was cited as the reason for withdrawing Scotland from these international studies in 2010, but they had also highlighted concerns about literacy, maths and science in Scottish schools.
It’s early days for Jenny Gilruth as Scotland’s education secretary, but the system is in a state of flux and needs strong leadership. The sooner we start to see evidence of that, the better.
Emma Seith is senior reporter at Tes Scotland. She tweets @Emma_Seith
