Official Report 340KB pdf
The next item of business is a statement from Màiri McAllan on raising standards and delivering excellence for every child. Questions will be taken at the end of the statement, so there should be no interventions or interruptions.
15:02
Yesterday, the First Minister set out the first programme for government of this new parliamentary session. It is confident and ambitious and it has improving people’s lives as its driving mission. That is very much aligned to the leadership that I wish to offer as Cabinet Secretary for Education, Culture and Gaelic, guided always by the pursuit of excellence and equity.
In just the few months since being appointed, I have already been confronted by so much about which we should be proud. We need look only at results day this year. Academic attainment increased again at national 5, higher and advanced higher levels; grade As at national 5 and higher levels increased; and an additional 1,000 candidates entered for advanced highers. The poverty-related attainment gap narrowed further this year at national 5, higher and advanced higher levels and is lower than it was during pre-pandemic levels in 2019. I welcome similar increases in pass rates and the percentage of A grades across national 5s and highers compared with last year for learners with additional support needs.
Importantly, alongside that strong academic excellence, there was a further surge in the number of vocational awards this year. There was a breakthrough increase in vocational subjects such as journalism, childcare, personal finance and construction. The number of awards such as those, which prepare young people for the world of work, is 121 per cent higher than it was in 2019. That mix of academic and vocational excellence is helping to deliver a joint record number of young people who are in positive destinations nine months after leaving school and a two-thirds reduction in the poverty-related attainment gap for initial school leavers.
On results day, I was also delighted to receive Universities and Colleges Admissions Service statistics that show record numbers of young people being accepted into university in Scotland and historic levels doing so from our most deprived backgrounds. That is excellence and equity in practice.
The principle that we must remove the barriers to an excellent education is fundamental to the Government’s mission, which is why we are rolling out breakfast clubs in every primary school and continuing to expand the provision of free school meals. In that regard, I am pleased to announce today the provision of up to £2.8 million to help local authorities to address school meal debt. That principle is also why we are reducing the cost of the school day through the school clothing grant and why, starting next year, we will deliver our new welcome-to-school bag for 47,000 primary 1s.
There is so much to celebrate in our education system, and I put on the record my thanks to the teaching workforce, parents and carers, and young people themselves for all their hard work and commitment. However, now and throughout the coming term, we must confront the challenges that remain: a stubborn attainment gap, unwarranted variation in outcomes across the country, lingering Covid impacts and new challenges in a changing world, including the impact of smartphones in young people’s lives. So, I want to set out my ambition for excellence and equity in school education and to describe in early course just some of the reforms that I believe are necessary to achieve it.
In the classroom, few things are more important than the interconnected ABCs—attainment, attendance, behaviour and curriculum. On attainment, I will continue our mission to reduce the poverty-related attainment gap. Central to that is empowering schools to respond to their pupils’ needs and to invest strategically to overcome those barriers. I have seen at first hand the difference that pupil equity funding is making. This year, we are investing £200 million, and I confirm that I am committed to continuing to provide funding to headteachers to tackle the poverty-related disadvantage in ways that best suit their schools.
Overcoming barriers to an excellent education also means attending to varying additional support needs. I want to make sure that fulsome and predictable support is available for teachers, children and their families so that needs are identified and met as soon as possible. That is why I intend to deliver the six recommendations of the McManus review over this parliamentary term. Two days ago, I published a route map for the first milestone in that process—a national staged intervention model. That model will provide consistency of support for children, regardless of their whereabouts, and will prioritise early intervention. It will be developed with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities and schools, and it will declutter a complex landscape, bringing simplicity and predictability.
To improve attainment, we must also ensure that attendance is high and absence is minimised. The pandemic and cost of living pressures have been affecting attendance, and we know that some families’ relationship with school has changed and that more pupils have found it more challenging to attend. We are taking a range of actions to overcome that through the provision of bespoke resources and support for councils, families and schools, improved data and a national media campaign. I am pleased that statistics in the past two years show that attendance has gone up and that persistent absence has come down. That work and the work of the national staged intervention model, which I also hope will support attendance, will continue, and I will closely monitor progress.
Turning to behaviour, I want to be clear from the outset that the vast majority of children and young people are well behaved and conscientious in school, and I am proud of them. Equally, I want to be clear that violence and aggression of any kind has no place in our schools and will be dealt with. The behaviour in Scottish schools research, which provides a nationally representative picture of what is happening in our schools, showed that the majority of staff report that children are generally well behaved most or all of the time, in class and around the school. However, BISSR also showed increases in low-level disruption, disengagement and serious disruptive behaviour, particularly since the pandemic.
Reports of violence relate mostly to our primary schools and to our youngest children, in primaries 1 to 3. That is why we continue to work with partners on implementing our national action plan to address key areas of concern for our youngest pupils. In the coming months, we will complete work on principles for the recording and monitoring of behaviour and incidents, and we will update our national guidance on exclusions.
In BISSR, secondary school teachers highlighted use of mobile phones as the behaviour that is having the biggest impact on their teaching. In recent years, we have seen a significant intensification of young people’s use of mobile phones at increasingly young ages. I am very concerned about the educational impact of that, as well as the social and emotional implications.
With that in mind, Parliament will be aware of the decisive work that I am taking forward to end the presence of mobile phones in the learning environment for good. A consultation on legislation opened on 25 August, during recess, and it will run for 12 weeks. I strongly encourage participation from colleagues. I intend to introduce legislation soon thereafter so that, as quickly as possible, our young people can learn and our teachers can teach free from the relentless distraction of electronic notifications.
Last week, as part of our public health approach to online harm, we launched a marketing campaign on online safety, and we are also ensuring that young people know how to confront misogynistic and hateful behaviour through our support of the digital discourse initiative. As the First Minister made clear yesterday, we must all play our part in tackling violence against women and girls. I am sure that we all agree, across the chamber, that education is central. The time has come to draw a line in the sand in relation to the intense exposure of children and young people to smartphones, and I want to use my time as education secretary to, among other things, lead some of that work.
Another change that I will be pleased to oversee relates to the last of our ABCs, namely the curriculum. The curriculum improvement cycle represents the largest-ever reform to curriculum for excellence. It will clarify the role of knowledge across our curriculum and make clearer a pupil’s progression through learning, providing certainty on how to approach key topics, including language and maths. That approach is informed by international practice to drive excellence. It is being developed with the profession, and it has my full support, because I believe that it is necessary. Initial development work is nearing completion and further materials will be shared in the autumn, adding to those that we published earlier in the summer. I will ensure that it builds on the results of Scotland’s participation in PISA 2025, the results of which will be published next week.
Just as important as developing the reformed curriculum is making sure that teachers are supported to digest and use it. We are taking a staggered approach to ensure readiness. In-service time, coupled with structured support, will be offered to ensure that it is understood and embedded successfully. As we deliver curriculum reform with our teaching workforce, we will also be taking forward reduced class contact time from 22.5 hours per week to 21, ensuring that teachers have more protected time to focus on planning and delivering high-quality learning. Having listened to voices consistently highlighting a lack of job certainty offered by their local authority employers, we will also deliver the reforms that are needed to provide a teacher job guarantee for a minimum of three years for newly qualified teachers.
We will also shortly bring forward plans to help primary teachers who want to transition into new roles to do so, and we will strengthen career opportunities and support for pupil support assistants. Although that work is ongoing, I am pleased to announce today a new £1 million teacher recruitment assistance fund to support the recruitment and retention of teachers in our rural and island communities with practical support, including housing support.
As well as the considerable work that I have set out, we must also seize the opportunity of public service reform to truly achieve excellence and equity. To my mind, that must mean addressing the variability in education outcomes across the country where that is unwarranted, improving data collection, enhancing performance and accountability, and empowering headteachers and schools.
We must also address unnecessary bureaucracy. As an early commitment to that, I have instructed my officials to ensure that where Government guidance—which, in my view, has become too long and repetitious—is issued, it will be significantly streamlined, with precise and concise communication that teachers can navigate more readily.
I look forward to engagement with the profession, the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities and trade unions as we seize the opportunity of public service reform to deliver meaningful improvements in people’s lives. Our education system represents the opportunity of a lifetime for our children and young people. It is an incredibly precious institution. In the ways that I have set out in this statement and in more, I look forward to working with Parliament to ensure that equity and excellence can be a reality for every child in Scotland.
I will allow 20 minutes for the cabinet secretary to answer questions on the issues that were raised in her statement. Members who wish to ask a question should press their request-to-speak buttons now.
The Government talks about closing the attainment gap, but, after two decades, that gap remains stubbornly wide. For all the strategies, incentives and announcements, a child’s background still plays far too great a role in determining their outcome.
The Government celebrates the statistic showing the highest number of people from deprived backgrounds going to university. However, the same UCAS data that the cabinet secretary referred to shows that white working-class boys are the least likely to go to university. When we look at the number of pupils not receiving free school meals, 45 per cent go on to higher education by the age of 19. That level drops to 26 per cent for disadvantaged students, and it drops again to 13 per cent for male, white, British working-class pupils receiving free school meals.
In the spirit of equity and excellence in action, what will the Scottish Government do to address that?
Questions and answers must be concise.
I should say from the outset that my concern to pursue equity and excellence in Scotland’s education system is not seen through the lens of nationality, therefore I will not respond directly to the points that were put to me about people’s nationalities.
For all our young people, we can point to extensive evidence that progress is being made. Our achievement of curriculum for excellence levels data demonstrates that attainment in literacy and numeracy is at record levels in primary and secondary, and that the poverty-related attainment gap is at a record low. In my statement I spoke about positive destinations and the two-thirds reduction in the positive destination status of our initial leavers when it comes to the poverty-related attainment gap. I must also point to the UCAS statistics from results day, which demonstrated that record numbers of young people from the most deprived backgrounds are going on to university. There is demonstrable progress on the poverty-related attainment gap. However, there is considerable work still to do, and I am keen to do it with colleagues.
I thank the cabinet secretary for advance notice of her statement. As the cabinet secretary has done, I congratulate all our young people on their results received over the summer.
Our young people have the right to learn without disruption, so the reports of disruptive behaviour in schools, particularly primary schools, are deeply disturbing. The NASUWT says that nearly three-quarters of teaching staff have been verbally abused and nearly a quarter have been physically abused. Given the urgency of the situation, will the cabinet secretary commit to making the implementation of the relationships and behaviour in schools action plan mandatory across all schools? Will there be a requirement to publish robust data? New guidance is welcome, but that alone will not address the crisis, because schools need resources. What resources will the cabinet secretary provide to support that new guidance?
I restate what I said in my statement. The vast majority of our pupils are well behaved and conscientious, but that does not mean for a moment that we should not try to tackle episodes of poor behaviour where they emerge. That is not only for our teaching workforce, who deserve to be able to go to work free from aggression and violence, but equally for our young people, who cannot learn well when they are engaged in such behaviour.
The member mentioned the 20 actions of our relationships and behaviour in schools action plan. We are absolutely driving those forward. One aspect was on producing enhanced guidance on mobile phones in schools, on which work has moved on considerably since the action plan was initially released, to the extent that we are now taking a national approach. The research that is based on what secondary teachers have fed back to us says that that approach will make a big difference to behaviour in schools.
I emphasise that, although the Government is absolutely here to support education authorities and schools to deal with those matters, they also have to be dealt with in a person-centred way that understands the reasons in a young person’s life that are driving disruptive behaviour. We will take decisive national action, such as the mobile phones ban, and we will support our schools and councils with guidance and resources; equally, it is about doing person-centred work with families and young people that needs to be done at school level.
I welcome the cabinet secretary’s statement and the range of measures to deliver excellence for children, building on the ambitious plan to expand early learning education, which is especially important for children from more disadvantaged backgrounds, and helping to narrow the developmental gap that often emerges even before formal schooling begins. What role will the expansion of early learning education play in the Scottish Government’s ultimate success in continuing to narrow the poverty-related attainment gap?
I am accompanied today by my colleague Siobhian Brown, the Minister for Children, Young People and The Promise. She and I work closely together on the interplay between children’s early years and their success in education. Our mission to expand the funded early learning and childcare offer to 1,140 hours, which we have completed, was driven by our understanding of the importance of the formative early years, which is also behind our intention to transform that offer so that it is available to children from nine months right up to primary 7. Yesterday’s programme for government gave a little more detail on that, including on some of the stages of the roll-out—for example, for breakfast clubs and after-school clubs.
We are absolutely clear eyed on the importance of the formative early years, and also of the importance of meaningful and supportive early learning support for young people and of childcare for families, particularly mothers, to support and facilitate either their return to work, should they wish to do so, or the extension of their hours.
A heavy focus of the programme for government and the cabinet secretary’s statement has rightly been on reducing child poverty and the poverty-related attainment gap. One simple way to support families with the rising cost of living is to cut the cost of school uniforms. In the previous parliamentary session, the Scottish Greens worked with the Scottish Government to deliver updated guidance on making school uniforms more accessible and affordable, but councils are currently under no obligation to follow that guidance. Does the cabinet secretary know how many councils have already adopted the guidance, and will she explore ways to make it statutory as soon as possible?
As education authorities, it is for councils to make decisions for their own area and to be held to account for those decisions. However, the Scottish Government is very keen to support schools, children and families with the cost of school uniforms. That is why we provide the school clothing grant and why we have committed to uprating it.
I believe strongly in the importance of a uniform as an equalising measure in the classroom, and I believe strongly in supporting families to be able to afford it. When it comes to compelling local authorities to take certain approaches, given their role as education authorities it would not be appropriate for me to do so.
The cabinet secretary has promised school bags for 47,000 primary 1 pupils next year, yet the policy did not get one single mention in the programme for government yesterday. Teachers and parents are already asking why that money is not going directly into classrooms to close the attainment gap. Did the cabinet secretary consult teachers before announcing the policy? How much will it cost taxpayers? After previous failures on laptops and bikes, why should anyone believe that the promise will be delivered?
That is a particularly cynical way to frame supporting four-year-olds in our country to feel that they belong and that they are ready for school on an equal footing with everybody else.
I do not know whether Meghan Gallacher opted in to getting her baby box when, like me, she managed to balance being an MSP and having a wee one, but, as we know, it is not just about providing the practical support that families need but about saying that they belong in the community just the same as everybody else.
As Meghan Gallacher decides to focus on one policy to the exclusion of all others, I remind her of free school meals, the school uniform grant that we have just been talking about and, of course, the Scottish child payment, which is available only in Scotland and is driving down child poverty.
I thank the cabinet secretary for advance sight of her statement. I am afraid that in it there is little of substance that is new or that focuses on making a difference where we need it.
In the previous session, the Education, Children and Young People Committee found that the majority of pupils with additional support needs were not having their needs met. Pupil support assistants are crucial in that regard. During the summer I met a parent who told me that, after Scottish Borders Council pulled direct access to pupil support assistants in their child’s classroom, the child’s learning behaviour deteriorated and the whole class was disrupted.
Will the Scottish Government adopt the Scottish Liberal Democrat plan to hire 2,000 more pupil support assistants across the country?
I draw Duncan Dunlop’s attention to the remarks in my statement on the Scottish attainment challenge and on the pupil equity funding that is connected to it.
The Scottish attainment challenge has been a real breakthrough in education in Scotland in the past 10 to 15 years. We have very confidently agreed on the link between socioeconomic disadvantage and attainment, and we have sought to break that. That funding has the added value of going straight into schools so that they can decide how best to use it in their area.
I also draw his attention to my remark on pupil equity funding in which I stated my intention to continue supporting schools with that.
In addition, Duncan Dunlop rightly mentioned the need to remove barriers for children with additional support needs. On that, I point him towards my comments on the national staged intervention model and the route map that was published two days ago on taking forward that critical work.
Fifteen members asked whether they could put a question to the cabinet secretary on the statement. We have only 20 minutes, so questions and answers will need to be shorter if we are to take even a proportion of those 15.
The school meal debt and digital discourse initiatives will have a profound impact, so I thank the cabinet secretary for her statement. However, it is important to acknowledge the further progress that we wish to see in supporting the learning experiences of pupils with neurodiverse conditions. What relevant mandatory training is available in schools and for teachers, and how is the Scottish Government engaging with stakeholders and organisations to support children and young people, some of whom might be awaiting diagnosis?
It is worth saying from the outset that, although we recognise that a diagnosis is important and helpful for children and young people and their families, our statutory frameworks mean that a formal diagnosis is not a prerequisite for support in Scotland.
On Katie Hagmann’s direct question about mandatory training, I note that all teachers undertake ASN training during initial teacher education. That is a requirement to meet the professional standards for registration with the General Teaching Council for Scotland.
As I have already mentioned a few times—for brevity, I will just quickly mention it again—the work on the national staged intervention model is a critical next step.
I thank the cabinet secretary for advance sight of her statement and heartily endorse her ambition to deliver excellence in education. However, I was contacted by a primary teacher in central Scotland who told me that her annual allocation of stationery this year for a class of 29 is 23 pencils, plus two rubbers and three pencil sharpeners. That is eight tenths of a pencil per child. To even attempt to deliver excellence, should we not first try to deliver the basics?
There is no doubt that young people need such materials to engage fully in the class. However, I would perhaps draw a bit of a comparison between Mr Kirkwood’s question and that of Meghan Gallacher, in which she criticised the Government for stepping in to provide such materials.
If Mr Kirkwood wants to furnish me with the details—I think that he just said “central Scotland”, so he could let me know the local authority area—I would be very happy to look into it. As a point of principle, I can say that those materials have to be provided.
I thank the cabinet secretary for a very encouraging statement. What progress has been made in improving educational outcomes for children and young people with additional support needs? What further action will the Government take through partnership working with third sector organisations such as Bellshill & Mossend YMCA and its y-connect programme?
On the point about the third sector, I would absolutely say that the joined-up approach between statutory education services and third sector organisations and the relational support that they can quite uniquely provide is a recipe for success and is very important in education.
In respect of outcomes for children and young people with additional support needs, I note that the recent attainment data shows improved performance for learners with such needs. As I said in my statement, the attainment gap has narrowed over the longer term, with positive post-school destinations remaining high. However, there is always more to do.
I thank the cabinet secretary for advance sight of her statement. We certainly share the ambition for our schools and education system to be better so that our kids have a brighter future and more opportunities. However, having listened to her statement, I am concerned that we are just looking at more of the same.
On teacher recruitment in rural and island communities, we have had a scheme for more than 20 years that now offers £8,000 to new teachers who are willing to go to those communities. However, that has not solved the problem—evidently—so will the cabinet secretary explain why a new fund of £1 million will achieve a different outcome?
The cabinet secretary mentioned helping those newly qualified primary teachers who want to to transition to new roles. Will she clarify whether that means new teaching posts and, if so, where they will be found, or whether she is suggesting that those teachers should just give up and retrain?
To clarify on that last point first, it is within education. I mentioned that we are taking forward reduced class contact time. That will—I think—create the need for additional teaching posts. As we have been discussing a lot this afternoon, there are increasing additional support needs in our education system, and I am interested in the extent to which primary teachers who may not be able to find a job—some of whom have sat in my constituency office and told me about it—might be interested in retraining and repositioning in a high school, potentially in an additional support for learning role. However, that is all to be developed. Jenny Young is perfectly able to be involved in that and I will be glad to work with her on it.
On reform, I put it on record that the single largest reform to the curriculum for excellence since it was introduced is not “more of the same”.
The right to be heard is a core principle of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which emphasises the importance of the inclusion of children in decision-making processes, recognising their evolving capacities and the need for their opinions to be valued, to build resilience, protect from harm and improve care and learning. How does the minister intend to ensure that children’s voices are indeed heard when raising standards and delivering excellence for every child?
I believe very strongly in engaging our children and young people in the decisions that affect their lives. That is not just a belief; we have incorporated it into domestic law in Scotland through the UNCRC. A good example of that in practice is the Government’s determination to end the distraction of mobile phones in the learning environment while being very conscious that young people have, in the past 10 or 15 years, become accustomed to a mobile phone—a smartphone—being part of their lives. Their views and insights will therefore be critical in driving that work, and the Minister for Children, Young People and The Promise and I are taking that forward.
Pupils cannot learn when they are hungry, and I am proud that the Greens secured a pilot of free school meals for 6,000 young people in secondary 1 to 3 across eight local authorities. However, I am concerned that, as of June, that pilot has ended. Will the cabinet secretary commit to reinstating free school meals to previously eligible pupils as well as continuing the expansion to more secondary pupils so that no one goes hungry throughout the school day?
Free school meals in Scotland are already universally provided for primary 1 to 5 and to eligible children and young people from primary 6 to S6.
The test-of-change project that Holly Bruce refers to was just that: it was about gathering research on taking forward the Government’s intention to expand free school meals. The outcomes of that are currently being analysed, and I will be pleased to keep Ms Bruce up to date. However, I also emphasise the Government’s intention to continue our roll-out of free school meals from an already high position of provision.
When it comes to excellence, I pay tribute to my constituent Ethan Chan, who has just set a Scottish record by achieving an amazing nine advanced highers. He is one of a record number of university entrants, while the highest number of vocational qualifications that have been achieved to date has helped to deliver the outcome of 93.5 per cent in positive destinations. How do we ensure that the Scottish Government’s investment in young people allows them to fulfil their potential in that they do not become economically inactive at a later date? That is a challenge for some of my constituents.
That is an incredibly impressive report card from Alan Brown’s constituent. I put on record not only the Government’s amazement at those nine advanced highers but our sincere congratulations.
I was so proud on results day to be able to speak to both an increase in academic attainment right across the board from our young people and a surge in vocational excellence in classes such as childcare, construction, journalism and personal finance, which prepare our young people for the world of work. That combination demonstrates the breadth and strength of our education system in Scotland.
I put on record my astonishment at Mr Brown’s constituent’s results. Well done to him.
That concludes the ministerial statement on raising standards and delivering excellence for every child. I apologise to those members who I was unable to call.
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