Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, has been accused of “spin and denial” over what political opponents claim has been a failure of education under her government.
The accusation was levied by the acting leader of the Scottish Conservatives, Jackson Carlaw, at First Minister’s Questions this afternoon, as he grilled Ms Sturgeon over whether the Scottish government would hit its targets for closing the attainment gap between advantaged and disadvantaged pupils.
Among those targets was that 68 per cent of primary pupils in the most disadvantaged areas would meet the required standard in literacy and 75 per cent would meet the required standard for numeracy by the end of the year, said Mr Carlaw.
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Background: Higher pass rate falls
However, the latest figures published in December show 63.1 per cent of children living in the most deprived areas of Scotland were hitting the expected level for literacy and 71.7 per cent hit the expected level for numeracy.
Sturgeon rejects claims of ‘failure’ in education
Mr Carlaw said that, in order to hit the target, the University of Glasgow had said there would need to be a tenfold increase, in just one year, on the progress that has been seen in the past three years.
Mr Carlaw also attacked Ms Sturgeon over figures showing that the pass rate in 32 of the 46 Higher subjects had dropped since 2015, including in English, maths, chemistry and history.
Tes Scotland recently revealed that the main subjects responsible for the drop in the Higher pass rate last year, according to the Scottish Qualifications Authority, were English, maths, history and psychology.
A new analysis published today by Tes Scotland also shows that the Higher pass rate varies widely between councils, from 68.5 per cent in Angus in 2018, to 84.9 per cent in East Renfrewshire.
Mr Carlaw said: “We are seeing a drop in the pass rates for 32 out of 46 higher subjects and I think that people are getting increasingly angry about the first minister’s spin and denial of the failure of education under her government. Being on course to miss all four of the government’s own educational attainment targets is a definition of failure. It is as simple as that.”
However, Ms Sturgeon said it was right that the Scottish government had set “stretching, ambitious” targets and that evidence was already pointing to improvements in the system.
She said that the gap between school leavers from the most and least deprived areas was narrowing; more young people were leaving school with Highers; more were leaving with five Highers; and more were leaving with National 5 qualifications.
Ms Sturgeon added: “If we look at the top 10 subjects in Scotland, most have exam pass rates that are up. Mathematics, chemistry, modern studies, physics, biology and geography pass rates are all up since 2015.
“I am not saying that we do not look at subjects for which the opposite is true - we are doing that - but the overall picture, as is so often the case, is not the one that Jackson Carlaw wants to present.”
