It is hard to play second fiddle to Nicola Sturgeon. Polished, confident, sure-footed, it’s no wonder that the SNP leader put Angela Constance in the shade on education in 2015-16.
While the cabinet secretary for education was famously embarrassing herself on television by asking for a live interview to be restarted, the first minister was making bullish speeches about how she wanted “to be judged” on her government’s performance on education.
Sturgeon - falling only slightly short of comparing herself to the Messiah - even wrote that she had a “sacred responsibility” to improve every child’s chances in life. Constance, meanwhile, faced ridicule for a frankly impenetrable press release saying that “nothing was off the table” in the drive to improve standards. “The teachers at that table” would be well-qualified, it added, for further clarity.
These minor bungles and Sturgeon’s dominance aside, with Constance overseeing unpopular council and FE cuts, it seems as though her reign was never going to be an easy one.
She failed to really make her mark and the attainment gap continues to widen. So now that she has been sidelined to communities, what does the appointment of Sturgeon’s deputy, John Swinney, to education mean?
There’s a consensus that he will be a “safe pair of hands” after nine years on the finance brief. The former management consultant and ex-SNP leader will surely bring some polish to proceedings. But does the appointment of one of her biggest hitters reveal a degree of nervousness on the first minister’s part? Does she see him as the only person capable of dealing with the perfect storm that is sure to come?
The introduction of standardised assessment, union fury over workload and ongoing issues with the new qualifications promise a jungle filled with booby traps for any unsuspecting politician.
The SNP’s manifesto plans to limit local authorities’ power in education provision - thereby handing more autonomy to schools - could also prove a sticky business. Sturgeon will need an education secretary with guile, charm, good communication skills and an understanding of what makes teachers and council education directors tick.
In England, the drive towards every school becoming an independent academy - free from local authority control - has become one of the most emotive in education. The original architect of the project - Michael Gove - was sacked as education secretary because his image became “toxic”. David Cameron installed Nicky Morgan in his stead, to see through his highly unpopular plans. While at first she was seen as a refreshing antidote to Gove - it was felt that she was someone who was willing to listen to teachers - she has now become a hate figure in her own right.
Swinney looks to be doing well in his first week in the job, and, as one of Scotland’s most popular politicians, clearly he is no hate figure as yet: he has begun a tour of schools and has already been pictured extracting the DNA from a kiwi fruit. His tweets reveal that he has enjoyed “staffroom chats”, and a video depicts him “getting to work on the education portfolio”.
With so much in front of him, it is hard to say how Swinney will perform in the long run, and whether he will succeed in getting the world of Scottish education onside.
But one thing is certain - it is unlikely that he will be asking to restart a live interview. You get the feeling that his press releases will be a little more straight-talking, too.
@irenabarker
This is an article from the 27 May edition of TESS. This week’s TESS magazine is available in all good newsagents. To download the digital edition, Android users can click here and iOS users can click here
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