Humza Yousaf has been named as the new leader of the SNP and will take over from Nicola Sturgeon as the first minister of Scotland.
Mr Yousaf - who will become the first Muslim first minister of Scotland - defeated fellow candidates Kate Forbes and Ash Regan in a ballot of SNP members.
After Ms Regan was eliminated in the first round, Mr Yousaf defeated Ms Forbes by 52 per cent to 48 per cent. Once second-preference votes were redistributed, he had 26,032 votes. Some 50,494 ballot papers were received from 72,169 eligible members, a turnout of 70 per cent.
Mr Yousaf will replace Ms Sturgeon following her shock resignation last month. A vote in the Scottish Parliament will be held tomorrow to confirm Mr Yousaf as the next first minister, and he is expected to be sworn in at the Court of Session on Wednesday.
So, what will his appointment mean for schools?
Mr Yousaf - who has been health secretary since 2021 and previously served as justice secretary, transport minister and international development minister - positioned himself as the candidate to continue where Ms Sturgeon left off.
During his campaign to become SNP leader, he said he planned to build on the Scottish government’s “radical and progressive agenda ensuring no one is left behind”.
Ms Sturgeon made it clear soon after becoming first minister in 2014 that she wanted to be judged on her education record.
However, she faced severe criticism over slow progress in narrowing the disadvantage-related attainment gap, a task that was made even harder by the Covid pandemic.
Humza Yousaf to focus on the attainment gap
Speaking after the result was announced, shortly after 2pm today, Mr Yousaf - who is 37 and attended Hutchesons’ Grammar School, an independent school in Glasgow, where he was two years behind Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar - said he felt like “the luckiest man in the world” and that his appointment sent a clear message “that the colour of your skin or, indeed, your faith is not a barrier”.
Mr Yousaf said his immediate priority would be to protect every Scot as far as possible from the cost-of-living crisis and to lead the recovery and reform of the NHS “and other vital public services”. He also mentioned redoubling efforts to lift people out of poverty, extending childcare, improving local housing, supporting small businesses and reforming the criminal justice system.
However, that reference to “other vital public services” was the closest Mr Yousaf got to talking specifically about education and schools in his speech.
A key decision for Mr Yousaf will be whether education secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville continues in the role she has held since May 2021. Ms Somerville came out in support of Mr Yousaf, but whoever ends up with the education portfolio will be dealing with a huge amount of change - including the reform of key national education agencies and the imminent Hayward review of assessment and qualifications.
Education received barely any attention over the course of the race to succeed Ms Sturgeon, with the prospective candidates accused by Labour of “a conspiracy of silence on education”.
However, education finally got more than a cursory mention in the last televised SNP leadership debate, on the BBC on 14 March, with the candidates asked: “Why would the Scottish education system be better off with you as first minister?”
Mr Yousaf said that some progress had been made in closing the attianment gap “but we have to go much further”.
This suggested that he would continue Ms Sturgeon’s push to close the attainment gap between rich and poor. That will be important to schools given the investment this has resulted in, at a time when core budgets have been cut severely by cash-strapped councils.
Over the course of the current 2021-26 Parliament, the Scottish government has committed to spending £1 billion on its push to close the gap, with some of that money - around £130 million a year - coming straight to schools via Pupil Equity Funding, which is based on the number of pupils who receive free school meals.
Expanding free school meals
Mr Yousaf added during the 14 March debate that he would continue to invest in and expand free school meals. So far universal free school meals are in place for pupils from P1-5 but the government has not set a date for achieving its promise of expanding this to P6-7 since pushing back an initial target of August 2022. He also said he would expand breakfast and after-school club provision, “but with a particular focus in those areas with the highest deprivation”.
Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland’s Lunchtime Live today, before the winner of the leadership race was announced, Lindsay Paterson - professor of education policy at the University of Edinburgh - said that the education system in Scotland was facing “enormous challenges” and that despite Ms Sturgeon’s initial focus on education, it had “slipped off the agenda”.
Professor Paterson said that none of the three candidates for first minister had said anything on education beyond stock answers that lacked detail.
He added: “I’m afraid that policy issues go through fashions and that sadly education isn’t the fashion at the moment.”
