Official Report 309KB pdf
The next item of business is a debate on motion S6M-20956, in the name of Willie Rennie, on judging the Scottish Government on its education record. I invite members who wish to participate to press their request-to-speak button.
14:51
This is a significant moment, not only because it is the annual Liberal Democrat debate in this chamber, which I know that everyone has been desperate to hear—[Laughter.]—but because it marks 10 years since Nicola Sturgeon said, “Judge me on education.” It is a deadline that she herself set.
I suspect that this will be the last time in this session that Parliament will have an opportunity to debate education in a substantial way. Perhaps it will be the last opportunity for Nicola Sturgeon to come before us so that she can be judged on education. However, where is the former First Minister today? She is nowhere to be seen—certainly, she is not in the chamber. It seems that she was not prepared to be judged by this Parliament or by the voters of this country.
Let us remember how all this began. It was at Wester Hailes education centre in 2015, where Nicola Sturgeon gave what was described as an inspirational contribution. In that inspirational contribution, she said:
“If you are not, as First Minister, prepared to put your neck on the line on the education of our young people then what are you prepared to do? … I want to be judged on it.”
On the back of that contribution, the Scottish National Party went on to win the largest number of seats in the Parliament at the next election, and Nicola Sturgeon continued as First Minister. The subsequent programme for government read:
“We intend to make significant progress within the lifetime of this Parliament”—
that is, 2016 to 2021—
“and substantially eliminate the gap over the course of the next decade. That is a yardstick by which the people of Scotland can measure our success.”
I repeat those words:
“substantially eliminate the gap over … the next decade.”
I know that the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills will have lots of statistics and that she will reel out her own selected ones. She has a right to do that and she will be able to identify areas where the gap has narrowed. I am not going to do that. If we traded statistics, none of them would show “elimination”, substantial elimination or even substantial closing of the gap—certainly not over the 10-year deadline that was set. So I am not going to trade statistics today.
The promise was very clear. It changed over time, but the programme for government was clear that SNP would “substantially eliminate” the attainment gap. There is no doubt that, by whatever measure we pick, that commitment has not been met. Sometimes, the gap marginally goes down; sometimes it marginally goes up; and sometimes it stays static. However, one thing is clear: there has not been a substantial reduction.
The impact is clear. If we tot up the number of children who have gone through the education system and to whom that promise was made—disadvantaged children from disadvantaged backgrounds—it amounts to 170,000 children in Scotland whose life chances have been limited because of the failure to keep that promise.
The commitment has not been met in 10 years and, at the current rate of progress, it will not be met in 20, 30 or even 100 years. At the current rate of progress, it will be the grandchildren of the grandchildren of those who are children at the moment who will have the opportunity to have the poverty-related attainment gap reduced in the way that was promised by Nicola Sturgeon 10 years ago.
The cabinet secretary will say that we are running down staff, but that is far from the case. I am backing staff. I believe that they are talented people who lift up the chances of children in this country. If only they had a Government that was prepared to back them up.
The international reports are what stimulated the debate, as is alluded to in Paul O’Kane’s amendment, which we will support. Those reports highlighted the fact that Scottish education, which used to be the best in the world, had become just average. The ultimate goal should have been to drive up overall performance, as well as to close the attainment gap, which we all wanted to achieve, but even overall performance is static—no improvement has been made on that, either.
I know to my bitter cost that, if we do not stick to our word, the electorate will cast a judgment. We have learned from that bitter experience. We apologised for when we made mistakes in the past, but the Scottish Government dodges, slithers and deflects. It is always someone else’s fault—someone else is always to blame. We will hear exactly the same story again today. However, when Nicola Sturgeon made her promise 10 years ago, she knew that the world is a volatile place and that, in making a promise to the poorest children in the country, it is necessary to have the mechanisms in place to deliver that policy, but the Government failed to do that.
Let us look at the individual measures that have not been delivered. They include the promised 90-minute reduction in contact time for teachers, who are on the verge of industrial action. The digital devices that were promised have not been delivered. The 3,500 extra teachers that were promised have not been delivered. The issue of bad behaviour and violence in schools has not been addressed.
Let us look at two measures that were introduced by the Government. The regional collaboratives that were introduced by the previous education secretary were scrapped by the current education secretary because they were not working.
The Government also introduced national testing. At the time, everybody warned that it would not necessarily be the answer to the problem. As I have said repeatedly, we do not fatten a pig by measuring it. It is necessary to put in place the measures that will drive up performance. Constant measuring does not drive up performance. All that has been created is a myriad of bureaucratic procedures and reporting mechanisms that have been bolted on to the system, which has made things even more challenging for teachers and classroom assistants.
There will be a debate in the run-up to the election—which I hope will be a positive one—about behaviour, additional support needs, parity of esteem between vocational and academic qualifications, and the need to improve knowledge in the curriculum and tackle workload. I hope that we will have a positive debate on all those issues, as we have had at various hustings with various educational audiences.
However, today’s debate is about judging, because we were asked to judge Nicola Sturgeon on her record on education. Everyone in the Parliament, regardless of which party they are in, must recognise that Nicola Sturgeon and the Scottish Government have failed to deliver on the promise to substantially eliminate the poverty-related attainment gap. Every member should vote for our motion today, because that is exactly what has happened.
They will be able to do so only if you move the motion, Mr Rennie.
I move,
That the Parliament notes that since 2016, the Scottish Government’s key commitments and targets on education have either been missed or abandoned; further notes that these include free laptops for all pupils, free school meals for all pupils up to P7, 3,500 more teachers, reduced class contact time for teachers and the closing of the poverty-related educational attainment gap by 2026; believes that abandoning or missing these important targets and commitments has had a real impact on pupils, teachers and parents; further believes that the Scottish Government has let Scottish education down with rising levels of classroom violence, a lack of additional support for pupils and record numbers of recently qualified teachers leaving the profession; notes that teachers are once again considering industrial action, and asserts that Scotland and Scottish education deserve better.
14:59
In what is all but guaranteed to be the last education debate in this session of Parliament, I begin by paying tribute to Scotland’s children and young people.
This is the generation who experienced their education in the teeth of a global pandemic. The upset caused by Covid and associated lockdowns has impacted on schooling and education globally. Changed behaviour, lower attendance rates and growing additional support needs are not factors unique to Scotland. Indeed, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization estimates that more than 1.6 billion students have been impacted by the pandemic, with the most vulnerable learners being hit hardest. I hope that members will hold those vulnerable young people—those most on the margins—in their thoughts this afternoon and will think critically about how the Parliament will serve them better in the next session.
I am grateful to the Liberal Democrats for selecting education in this last Opposition debate. It will not come as a surprise to Willie Rennie, however, that I am a bit disappointed in the tone that has been adopted, because I simply do not recognise the education system that he has attempted to portray here today. However, as members will know, this Government is an advocate of supporting positive behaviour in our schools, so I will attempt to apply the same approach in the chamber this afternoon.
I again wish to put on the record my sincere thanks to Willie Rennie and his party, in the first instance, for voting to back this Government’s budget, which was passed only last Thursday. That budget is helping to provide an extra £3 million of funding in 2026-27 to further expand eligibility for free school meals, funding of up to £200 million to continue the Scottish Government’s commitment to closing the poverty-related attainment gap, and continued investment of more than £57 million to support children and families with additional support needs.
We will do everything that we possibly can to get this Government on the right track, which is why we voted for the budget.
Does the education secretary not recognise anything in my motion? Does she deny everything that has happened in the past on the poverty-related attainment gap?
I can give you the time back, cabinet secretary.
I will come to the points that Mr Rennie has addressed in his motion, but I have more praise for him first, which it is important for him to hear.
I am also grateful to Willie Rennie for his collegiate contributions to the cross-party review of additional support needs, particularly his suggestion that the Government convene a national event with practitioners to learn from and to share examples of what is working well in our schools. That event will be held next Thursday, when we will publish the cross-party review into additional support needs.
Finally, I am grateful to Willie Rennie for the final few words in today’s motion, which state:
“Scottish education deserves better.”
I think that we can all agree on that, because, across the political divide, we should all be thinking radically about the ways in which we intend to drive the improvements that I accept are required urgently in our schools, and we should be commending the progress that is being made right now in our classrooms.
Last Friday, I was pleased to visit Kinross high school to see for myself the difference that extra funding for additional support needs has made in that school. I was grateful to Jude for teaching me more about the unicorns and the history of Scotland, although I am not sure that I will be picking up boccia professionally any time soon.
The intensive support provision in Kinross high school is an excellent example of how tailored supports can be provided to school staff appropriately. There is, for example, classroom-level additional support needs provision, a principal teacher for inclusion and a bespoke intensive support provision unit for pupils with the greatest need. Importantly, all that work is happening in a mainstream setting, and it is being enhanced and supported because of extra funding that was provided by last year’s Scottish Government budget.
I put on record my praise again today for the Green Party and the Liberal Democrats for their support of last year’s budget, which has made that investment possible. I also want to thank them for their positive behaviour in relation to teacher numbers, because, in the past year alone, teacher numbers have increased for the first time since 2022, thanks to extra investment from last year’s budget flowing to our councils. That investment is helping to support a record low pupil teacher ratio and smaller class sizes in our primary schools.
The cabinet secretary talks about increased teacher numbers, but does she realise that three quarters of newly qualified teachers are struggling to find permanent employment and are stuck on supply lists?
I very much recognise that point, and I know that Mr Cole-Hamilton recently raised it at First Minister’s question time. To give him some assurance, I note that we have convened a national working group on the issue, involving the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, the teaching trade unions and our initial teacher education institutions, to identify and target the issues that pertain to permanence. It was important that last year’s budget made extra funding available to councils to ensure that they could create more permanent posts, which is why I am pleased that, for the first time since 2022, we have seen an increase in teacher numbers.
I am mindful of time, Presiding Officer.
This afternoon’s debate is about our children. I saw the importance of the issues that we are discussing when I visited Kinross high school last week. I know that colleagues across the chamber will regularly experience what I experienced on Friday, but I think that we all carry a responsibility in this place to be solution oriented.
Therefore, I will close by encouraging more positive behaviour this afternoon. Yes, the Government should be challenged, but we should hear ideas for improvement and radical solutions to unlock potential for the benefit of Scotland’s children and young people.
I move amendment S6M-20956.3, to leave out from first “notes” to end and insert:
“welcomes the passing of the 2026-27 Budget, following a deal reached with the Scottish Liberal Democrats, which will deliver over £4.8 billion investment for Scottish education, including up to £200 million to close the poverty-related attainment gap, building on December 2025’s Achievement of Curriculum for Excellence Levels (ACEL) data, which demonstrated record levels of literacy and numeracy in Scotland’s primary schools and data from February 2026, which recorded the joint second highest level of school leavers going on to positive destinations on record; recognises that the Budget will further expand the provision of free breakfast clubs and free school meals to reduce the poverty-related attainment gap, building on the 2025-26 Budget deal reached with the Scottish Green Party to expand free school meals in secondary schools; welcomes the continuation of extra funding for pupils with additional support needs (ASN) within the 2026-27 Budget, and looks forward to the publication of the cross-party commissioned-ASN review early in March 2026, and believes fundamentally that Scotland’s teachers, pupil support staff, parents, carers and pupils deserve the gratitude of the Parliament for their hard work and dedication every day."
15:05
I thank the Liberal Democrats for using their party business time today to bring this debate to the chamber. I will not necessarily love bomb Willie Rennie as much as the cabinet secretary just did, but I welcome the fact that the Parliament has what the cabinet secretary said is the last time this session for it to debate education. I note again that that is only thanks to Opposition parties bringing the debate to the chamber today. I also note that the Government debate on Tuesday 24 March has still not been allocated. I imagine that that is when we will have the Scottish Government debate on improving literacy in schools, which was cancelled, not another debate on independence ahead of the election.
It is little wonder that the Scottish Government has not wanted to devote more of its time to education, because it is now more than a decade since Nicola Sturgeon promised to eliminate the attainment gap and demanded to be judged on the issue. The SNP has failed to meet its own targets or restore Scotland’s once world-leading education reputation.
I do not underestimate the vision that Nicola Sturgeon was trying to drive forward 10 years ago. Any First Minister should bring that to the position that they hold. However, the fact that the Government has not taken forward the work to deliver on those outcomes is what today’s debate is really about. I agree with Willie Rennie that we have to look at the Government and judge it on that 10-year pledge. The Government has now been in office for 19 years.
Another pledge that the First Minister drove forward was on the Promise. The bill that is going through the Parliament does not feel like the vision that was outlined to care-experienced young people. I hope that there is still time for all of us members to turn that piece of legislation around, but it is important that we take stock and look at what has happened.
The number of students who find positive destinations after leaving school remains static. Meanwhile, the least-advantaged students are still let down in comparison with better-off pupils. Their chances of ending up in further education, an apprenticeship or another positive destination are not improving.
As Andrea Bradley, the general secretary of the Educational Institute of Scotland, said:
“If Scotland is to eradicate the poverty-related attainment gap and deliver an education system that truly and equitably meets the diverse needs of all learners, then greater investment in schools and colleges, in resources, and in teaching and support staff, is essential.”
I agree with the cabinet secretary that the Parliament needs to look towards education reform in the next session. I hope that the coming election will give us all that opportunity.
We on the Conservative benches have been leading the calls for better access to training opportunities. Given the vast number of Government reviews that have not been implemented, we know what could have made a difference in this session.
I agree with Willie Rennie’s motion. The Scottish Government has let education down, with rising levels of classroom violence, a lack of additional support for pupils and record numbers of recently qualified teachers leaving the profession. We have trained people to become teachers, but then they cannot find work. That has been a real tragedy during this parliamentary session. Furthermore, over the past five years, there has been no co-ordinated action to empower our teachers and make our schools safe again.
I turn to my amendment. I continue to be concerned at the failure to address violence in our classrooms. Given that Scotland now has the United Kingdom’s highest rate of violent injuries to school staff, it is clear that there has been no meaningful action to end such violence in our classrooms.
This is, potentially, the last education debate this session, but I hope that, when the Parliament reconvenes, all those who are lucky enough to be re-elected will come back with education reform at their heart. There has to be a better way to deliver the outcomes that we all want but that have not happened over the past decade.
I move amendment S6M-20956.2, to leave out from “further believes” to end and insert:
“recognises that Scotland has the highest rate of violent injuries to school staff in the UK and that the Scottish Government has failed to take meaningful action to protect pupils and teachers; notes with concern the high levels of work-related stress reported across the profession; further notes the record number of newly qualified teachers leaving the profession, and believes that, by any reasonable measure, the Scottish Government has failed Scotland’s children and that this failure should be a source of shame.”
15:09
I thank Willie Rennie and the Liberal Democrats for bringing today’s debate—which is, I believe, the last education debate of the current session of Parliament—to the chamber and once again using Opposition time to debate these issues. It provides us with an important moment, at the end of this session, to reflect on whether the Government has actually delivered better life chances and opportunities for children and young people and for all learners. However, we should reflect on the fact that not only are we at the end of a five-year session of Parliament, but we have had almost two decades of SNP governance in Scotland.
It would be easy for us to reflect solely on the commitment that Nicola Sturgeon made, which we have heard articulated today, and the promises that she made as First Minister. However, we know that she is heading off into the sunset, so it is perhaps more crucial that we ask ourselves who is still in Parliament who was sitting beside Nicola Sturgeon when she made that commitment. It was the current First Minister who stood beside her as she made those commitments, and he stood there as Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills when he made decisions about the life chances of working-class children and young people in this country and chose to downgrade their exam results in the Covid-19 pandemic. He was the man who promised us, at the beginning of the current session of Parliament, a recovery from Covid. We have heard a lot already today from the Government about Covid and the challenges that it has presented, but we were promised that that recovery would be the priority for this Parliament. That came off the back of the broken promise on the poverty-related attainment gap, so we were not exactly starting from a strong position.
We could rehearse many of the other broken promises that have littered not just this session of Parliament, but the preceding two decades. There was a promise of universal free school meals so that no child would go hungry—that was delayed and deflected, and not delivered in full. There were the jettisoned manifesto pledges of free iPads and free bikes for all children and young people, which were made with great fanfare at the last election and are sitting in tatters today. For completeness, we should not forget the Government’s previous promises on class sizes, new teachers and non-contact time for teachers, which were all abandoned or undelivered.
That is the reality, and we have to face it, because there will be people listening to the debate—teachers in our schools, parents of our young people or young people themselves—who are experiencing it daily. Time and again, cabinet secretary after cabinet secretary on the SNP benches has led those people up the garden path, promising them the earth, only for them to find nothing when they get there.
The consequences of that lack of action and delivery from the Government are felt acutely. Scotland has fallen down international league tables during the SNP’s time in Government, declining from being the best in the UK in maths, for example, to the second worst. Teachers, if they can find a job at all, are burning out and leaving the profession early at an alarming rate. There has been an unacceptable decline in classroom behaviour and a rise in violent incidents in our schools, at the same time as attendance rates have failed to return to pre-Covid levels.
Although the current cabinet secretary may not admit it, the reality will be an in-tray of challenges and problems a mile high for whoever comes into Parliament in the role of Government and, more broadly, for those who have to scrutinise that Government.
That is why I have been clear, since I took on the role of shadow education spokesperson for my party, that we have first to deal with order in our classrooms, and give our schools and teachers the support to deal with disruptive behaviour and the high levels of violence and low levels of attendance that are robbing children and young people of the opportunity to learn and putting teachers in an impossible position.
There is much that I could say, but my allotted time this afternoon is short. However, colleagues will be delighted to know that I will be closing for my party as well, so they will get another opportunity to hear a Paul O’Kane contribution this afternoon.
We have heard a lot this afternoon about reflecting on what we can do in the next session of Parliament. Of course, building consensus where it can be built is important, but we cannot escape the fact that we have had almost two decades of this governing party, which has made promise after promise and has delayed and deflected, and has not delivered.
I move amendment S6M-20956.1, to insert at end:
“and that effort should be made to reverse the decline in Scottish scores in international league tables, which has been seen since 2012.”
15:13
This debate cannot be reduced to the idea that Scottish education is simply failing, because that is just not true. Yes, there are pressures; yes, there are areas where improvement is needed; and yes, Opposition parties are right to raise those concerns. However, they should always be honest enough to recognise the good that is being done, too. If everything is framed through a negative lens, all that it does is risk demoralising teachers, support staff, pupils and families who are living the daily reality of school life.
The truth is that the picture is more mixed than that. There is record funding going into education, continued investment to tackle the poverty-related attainment gap, support for additional support needs, and progress in outcomes, too. That does not mean that the job is done; clearly, it is not. As the cabinet secretary said, there is always room for improvement. However, that does not mean that it is a story of blanket failure.
I look at this through my own lens. I have children who have been through the school system, as I am sure that many of us have.
If Karen Adam does not think that it is blanket failure, will she identify some failure in what has happened in the past 10 years?
I can give you the time back.
I identified in my opening remarks that we are not saying that the situation is perfect. There are areas that need improvement. The cabinet secretary said that herself. However, it is not blanket failure—absolutely not.
I have lived experience of things that have not gone well, and it is important that we talk about those things. It is not always about money or process. I will focus my comments on additional support needs. Sometimes it can be about attitudes, sometimes it can be about barriers, and sometimes it can be about gatekeeping and misunderstanding getting in the way of a child getting the support that they need. If we are serious about improving ASN delivery, we need to be honest about that and not shy away from it.
I have also seen the flip side, in a personal capacity, with my children and grandchildren, and professionally, with my young constituents. I have seen them thrive when they have an attentive, understanding teacher with them, and I have seen the difference that good practice makes. There are fantastic examples of that across Scotland. This cannot become a debate in which we pull everything down and ignore people who are quietly getting on with it and getting it right every single day.
I remember being in a high-level meeting, when I was a local councillor. I will not risk identifying anyone, but I heard someone say that autism is caused by too much screen time. That told me a lot about why there were so many barriers for my family and for other families around that area. I have also sat in a meeting with one of my own children and heard the words, “You cannot blame your ADHD for that. That was just you.” If anyone wants to say that attitude is not a part of the issue, I tell them plainly, from lived experience, that it is.
No cabinet secretary can control every individual’s attitude in school, and ministers cannot legislate away that type of ignorance. Leadership and culture matter, and there needs to be a shift in understanding in many ways. As Dr Jason Lang put it so well, if a supermarket shelf is too high for half of your customers, you do not build a whole individualised support system around the bad design—you lower the shelf. That is a key point, and I agree that we need to reassess systems.
Issues are arising now, and this is a new and growing challenge. Post-Covid, education is in a very different setting, and we are just beginning to understand that impact. I know that the cabinet secretary has been listening and acting on that point, and it is important to have those constructive conversations. Schools need support, but we also cannot keep expecting schools and teaching staff alone to carry the pressures. We need to change wider systems.
Let us listen to the concerns and be honest about what still needs to improve. However, simply painting Scottish education as a story of failure completely misses the mark. We need a whole-community approach involving families, local services and the third sector. No school should be left carrying the pressures alone. If we are serious about improving outcomes, let us acknowledge the good, be honest about what needs to change and, importantly, be constructive. Let us also stop the silo working, because a lot of this rests not only in the education portfolio. As I have said, it is about a whole-society approach. Let us involve our young people in these discussions, because not including that lived experience risks missing the point.
15:19
Presiding Officer,
“There is no doubt that Scottish education can rightly claim many distinguished achievements in its long history, for which we have been admired throughout the world. However, the Parliament should be in no doubt about the concern among today’s employers that in some areas we are failing to live up to that reputation, given our inability to produce a workforce that is adequately skilled to cope with the demands of the 21century.
In particular, it is deeply worrying that the CBI, in its recent manifesto for the elections, highlighted the fact that it is now commonplace for the Scottish business community to spend an unacceptably high percentage of its … training budget on what is, in effect, remedial education … rather than on new skills and on ensuring that Scotland is better able to compete on the international stage. The reality is that the basic levels of reading, writing and arithmetic of too many of our school leavers is … not good enough”.—[Official Report, 30 May 2007; c 214-5.]
All those words are a direct quote from my maiden speech in the Parliament on 30 May 2007. I genuinely regret that they are just as relevant today as they were back then. Despite a few improvements in some aspects of Scottish education, our schools overall are not doing nearly as well as they should be, for the reasons that have already been set out by previous speakers.
In that maiden speech, I went on to highlight what I felt should be done to improve matters. I have not really changed my views in the intervening time. Before I offer some final thoughts before standing down, I will repeat one comment that was made by Ian Hughes from the Construction Industry Training Board at the Finance and Public Administration Committee just yesterday. He noted the size of the vast pool of potential talent in our young people and how colleges are doing well to try to harness that. He then said that, from the employers’ point of view, there are not enough young people coming through schools and FE with the competency level that is needed, which often relates to poor attitude and poor discipline—not turning up on time, missing transport or asking to leave early without a valid excuse.
That, to me, is just as serious an issue as the concerns about attainment levels. It relates to something else that I mentioned in my maiden speech; namely, that we need to do far more to prevent too many of our young people from becoming disengaged at school, because that is when the poor discipline sets in.
In what is my last contribution to an education debate, I want to leave the Parliament with the following thoughts. Schools should be an opportunity for every single young person to reach their potential, whatever their abilities and whatever their background. Every single child is good at something, and it is the job of the school, in conjunction with the child and their parents, carers and guardians, to identify and nurture that capability. For many children, that might not be something that they find in the classroom, but something that they find in the field of extracurricular activity.
At the risk of repeating what I said at the time of the passing of my Schools (Residential Outdoor Education) (Scotland) Bill, why on earth do we not learn the lessons from what works well to motivate young people and deliver the best outcomes? If we learn those lessons, we will radically improve the levels of resilience, self-esteem and confidence, and, as a direct result, improve attainment, attendance and behaviour. If we do so, we will raise aspiration across the board and put an end to the mediocrity and negativity in the education system that too often affects the lives of our young people.
15:23
I remind members of my entry in the register of members’ interests.
It is very powerful to follow what might be Liz Smith’s last contribution on education. I would like to take a moment to say that it has taken you a long time, since 2007, to graduate—longer than many of our young people in university—but you are good at something. Your empathy, wisdom, knowledge and ability to advocate for what our young people need, even though they might not know that they need it, have been exceptional. You will be greatly missed in the chamber, and your contribution to education will be greatly treasured and also missed, so thank you.
I am almost tempted not to say, “Through the chair”, given those remarks, but please speak through the chair.
One of the enduring tests of education is not simply that we affirm but whether we are prepared to examine claims rigorously rather than just accept them uncritically. That principle serves this Parliament well when we assess claims of success in public policy. It is in that spirit that I rise to support the motion in the name of Willie Rennie and to support the Scottish Labour amendment, because they ask the Parliament to do something entirely reasonable: to judge the Scottish Government not on promises made but on commitments delivered.
Since 2016, the Government has set out a series of headline pledges on education with clear targets that were publicly stated and repeatedly affirmed. The pledges included free laptops for all pupils, free bikes for children who cannot afford them, free school meals for all pupils up to primary 7, an additional 3,500 teachers, reduced class contact time and, critically, the closing of the poverty-related attainment gap by 2026. Those were not Opposition demands; they were Government commitments. However, many of those commitments have been missed, diluted, delayed or quietly abandoned altogether. That matters, because, when education targets are missed, it is not spreadsheets that suffer; it is schools, teachers and families—it is our children who are let down.
The Government might argue that circumstances have changed. It might point to the pandemic or wider pressures. However, leadership is not tested when delivery is straightforward; it is tested when priorities must be defended and promises must be honoured under strain.
The motion is right to state that the failure to meet the commitments has had real and tangible consequences, which we can see in the classroom. Teachers speak of rising levels of violence and disruption, while pupils with additional support needs too often face delay or denial when they seek the help that they are legally entitled to.
At the same time, the profession is under profound pressure. Record numbers of newly qualified teachers are leaving the profession not through a lack of vocation but because the system is failing to sustain them. Workloads are excessive, class sizes remain high and promised reductions in class contact time have not been delivered. It should surprise no one that teachers are once again considering industrial action. That is not a system at ease; it is a system that is stretched close to breaking point.
The motion directs us to the attainment gap, which is perhaps the clearest measure of this Government’s education record. For years, ministers have rightly described closing the poverty-related attainment gap as their defining mission. However, the gap remains wide, and progress has been uneven and fragile. The motion does not deny the complexity of the challenge, but it rejects the idea that ambition alone is a substitute for delivery. Scotland’s children do not have the luxury of waiting, because they get one chance at their childhood.
That is why I support the Labour amendment, which recognises that international evidence matters. Declining performance since 2012 is not about league table vanity; it is a warning signal that long trends in literacy, numeracy and equity are falling.
I turn briefly to the cabinet secretary’s amendment. It offers an impressive catalogue of budgets, figures and future intentions. However, it confirms the problem that this debate is about, because it substitutes announcement for achievement and asks the Parliament to look forward rather than account for what has not yet been delivered. Investment is not in dispute, but delivery is. It is right to have gratitude for teachers, staff, parents and pupils, but that cannot be used as a shield.
Education is one of the clearest tests of whether opportunity in Scotland is broadly shared. It is disappointing that this SNP Government has not learned that lesson.
15:28
I thank the Lib Dems for securing this debate. I am delighted to speak just as we have agreed to the 2026-27 budget, as the cabinet secretary referred to. That was secured through constructive agreement with our Lib Dem colleagues.
The budget delivers tangible investment in the future of every child and young person. It contains more than £4.8 billion for education, including £200 million specifically targeted at closing the poverty-related attainment gap. That is record investment, which the Parliament can be proud of. It is not just about the funds, as has been said; it is about achievement.
I come to the debate with evidence of progress and achievement, which is the important thing. We can all stand in the Parliament to make speeches, trade statistics and trade our records of manifesto promises. The achievement of curriculum for excellence levels data that was published in December 2025 showed that there are record levels of literacy and numeracy in our primary schools. Just last month, in February 2026, we learned that the proportion of school leavers who move on to positive destinations—college, university, training or employment—reached the second-highest level on record. Those are not abstract statistics; they are the direct result of the hard work of teachers, pupil support staff, parents and carers across Scotland.
The budget builds on that success. It will expand free breakfast clubs and free school meals even further, helping to ensure that no child arrives at school too hungry to learn. The constructive work with colleagues and the budget deal with the Scottish Greens last year rolled out free school meals in secondary schools. Every extra meal served is another barrier removed and another child is given the best possible start to their school day.
I, too, welcome the continuation of extra funding for pupils with additional support needs. The demands for our ASN services are significant and sustained investment is essential. I look forward to the publication early next month of the cross-party ASN review that this Parliament commissioned. I am confident that the review, combined with resources and the budget, will help us to deliver the support that our young people deserve.
Another important point that has not been touched on in the debate is the second cross-party summit on neural developmental support, which brings together health, educational, academia and local government. Those in the next session of Parliament will have a vital role in ensuring that children and parents have the support that they need to maximise their child’s potential. I commend the work that Stronger Together for Autism and Neurodivergence undertake in East Lothian in supporting children and parents.
I want to focus on one local issue. It is incredibly worrying to see some autistic children in East Lothian being denied essential support because of the Labour council’s decision to block private therapists from working in local schools. That directly affects families in East Lothian, where many children rely on specialist input to communicate, learn and thrive. Parents and professionals across East Lothian have been clear in speaking to me. When independent therapists are refused access, there is often no suitable alternative in place. Children are left waiting, falling behind and missing out on interventions that could make a life‑changing difference.
All qualified therapists meet the same regulatory standards. What matters is that children receive the help when they need it. I am working with the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists in that regard. It would be helpful if the cabinet secretary could refer to that in her summing up. I raised the topic in committee last week, and Tom Arthur said that he would take the point forward.
Children are suffering in East Lothian because of that specific issue. I am also asking East Lothian Council to urgently rethink its approach and put children’s needs at the centre of decision making.
No progress would be possible without the dedication of those in our classrooms, nurseries and communities, which we see day in and day out. Scotland’s teachers and pupil support staff go above and beyond. Parents and carers give tirelessly of their time and energy. Our pupils do, too—the young people turn up ready to learn to their full potential. They are the reason that we are all here. I want to place on record our deepest gratitude to every one of them. Their hard work and commitment are what make Scottish education the success story that it is becoming.
We come to closing speeches.
15:32
I will pick up on a theme that I started with, because it came up a number of times in the debate: reflecting not only on the previous five years of this Parliament but on the 10 years since the pledge on the attainment gap was made and on the 20 years of the SNP in power.
A number of members commented on that and on what has and has not happened during that period. Karen Adam spoke passionately about the importance of ASN provision and support and the work that still requires to be done. I am very familiar with that, as someone who worked in the learning disability sector for many years before being elected to Parliament. As she was talking about the innovations, the reviews and what is happening now, I reflected that those very issues were being discussed in 2016, when I was working in the sector and helping people, particularly parents, to advocate for their views. At the time, John Swinney was the education secretary, and he pledged to look at a number of recommendations that were made, including those in “#IncludED in the Main?!”, which was Enable’s piece of work on the issue. None of that was progressed in a particularly meaningful way.
We find ourselves in the position of revisiting much of that 10 years on and we are only just making a start on the issues that need to be dealt with. That leads me to Liz Smith’s speech. I pay tribute to Liz Smith, because she will be a loss to the Parliament. She reflected on her time in the Parliament over that 10‑year period and beyond and she considered the issues of apprenticeships and skills, what we are teaching young people and how we are preparing them for work. She said that, in many ways, we have not moved beyond the issues that she raised back in 2007. That tells us all we need to know about the progress that has, and has not, been made during this session of Parliament—these past five years—and, more acutely, over almost two decades of SNP government.
I understand what the member says about time, but things have changed so much in the past six years since Covid. Also, young people just do not know what type of roles and jobs will be available in the future. They might be in school right now, but the jobs that they will be going into do not even exist yet. There are a lot of unknowns out there. We are trying to move at pace and, at the same time, deal with rapid change.
I can give you the time back for that, Mr O’Kane.
Of course I recognise what Karen Adam says about the challenges. Any Government has to deal with shocks and other such issues, but we are reflecting on almost two decades of the SNP’s decision making in this space. We have to ask what the picture and position was on many of those issues pre-Covid. Similarly, in the health service, the Government sometimes desires to point to the pandemic as the root of all challenges, ills and issues, but the reality is that things were in a difficult situation prior to the pandemic.
As I said at the outset of the debate, we were promised a recovery from Covid in this session of Parliament—that was to be the relentless focus of this session. It was going to be the relentless focus of John Swinney, the man who now finds himself in the role of First Minister. However, we are nowhere near where we need to be in that recovery from Covid.
The debate has allowed us to reflect on what has gone before, but it also gives us an opportunity to put on record what needs to happen to move forward. For me, that is about giving confidence and support to teachers to allow them to teach, to maintain discipline and order in their classrooms, to drive up literacy and numeracy across the board and to deal with the significant challenges relating to additional support needs, not just in terms of funding but in terms of structure.
We will debate those issues in the days ahead in the coming election. However, it is clear to me that, after almost two decades of the SNP Government being in power, we need a new direction in Scotland.
15:36
We all remember the “judge me” pledge that was made in 2015 by the then First Minister, and it has already been referenced today. Nicola Sturgeon asked to be judged on her ability to reduce the attainment gap between rich and poor students. That was her promise and the standard that she set. However, in the 10 years since that definitive statement and the 19 years of the SNP leading our education system, Scotland’s once-proud reputation of educational excellence has taken a hit, and the poverty-related attainment gap remains deeply rooted for Scotland’s children.
By any fair measure, the SNP has failed. I noted in Karen Adam’s personal and passionate contribution the ASN issues that she highlighted. She also commented that we are discussing educational failure. However, I state categorically that we are not talking about that; we are talking about the Government’s failure to deliver on educational promises, which is a different thing. Let me be clear that that is not a reflection on any of our teachers, staff, schools or pupils. We can all agree that, when we speak of such issues, we are aware that our teachers and staff are doing a fantastic job. The failure lies solely at the feet of the SNP Government and is due to a failure to meet those promises.
Recent curriculum for excellence data shows that, in primary schools, the gap between the most and least deprived pupils when it comes to meeting expected levels is still wide, at 19 percentage points in literacy and 17 percentage points in numeracy. In secondary schools, the divide is just as worrying. Among those getting A to C grades for national 5, the gap is more than 16 percentage points and, for highers, it is more than 17 percentage points. Among pupils getting As in national 5, the difference is a striking 27.5 percentage points, which is almost the same as it was before the pandemic. That is not progress; it is generational injustice.
Does the member agree that the two-child benefit cap and a restriction in public service spending would affect the poverty-related attainment gap?
That is something that comes up regularly. Although I understand the Government’s position on that, we are talking about educational attainment and the situation in our schools. We must realise that our schools have to teach everybody, and that everybody needs the same standard of education, but they are not getting that from the Government.
It is important that I return to the point that behind every percentage point is lost potential—a child who has been told, directly or indirectly, that their future is limited by where they live or by the circumstances in which they grow up. That is an appalling situation.
I have listened today—and, indeed, every day—to the Scottish Government’s education team focusing, as even the Government’s amendment to the motion does, on the various sums of money that the Government has invested in Scotland’s schools rather than on the outcomes of that investment. Throwing money at a problem only works for so long. It is fundamental that we address the roots of the issues head on.
Over the past 19 years, none of the SNP Government’s budgeted spend has shifted the dial. In recent years, more than 73,000 pupils have had attendance rates below 50 per cent. In other words, 73,000 pupils have checked out of Scottish education and the hope that comes with it. Those are not just numbers; they are children. Scotland’s programme for international student assessment scores in maths and science are at record lows.
Violent incidents in classrooms have led thousands of teachers to seek medical treatment, yet there is little in the way of discipline for pupils’ actions, so many teachers face worse behaviour every day. When teachers are attacked and assaulted in our classrooms, learning and consistency suffer and discipline is forgotten. Not only should teachers not be forced to work in such conditions, hard-working and diligent pupils also suffer from the disruption. The worst effect of that is on children from deprived areas and the toughest backgrounds, who rely most on school for stability because their home life is not as secure. This Government is letting them down.
Even respected experts now admit the truth. Professor John McKendrick has said that the Scottish Government cannot claim significant progress in closing the gap. Nicola Sturgeon herself has called the failure to close the gap one of her biggest regrets.
The Scottish Conservatives believe that every child, no matter their background, deserves a chance to succeed. We believe that children should be children; that classrooms are places of safety and equality; that actions should have consequences; that funding should be well targeted and carefully monitored; that children should be taught literacy and numeracy from the outset; and that people should be held truly accountable for results. Those principles are all common sense.
Closing the attainment gap should not have been just an election slogan, like so many of the elections slogans that we hear now, or a piecrust promise to be easily made and easily broken. It should have been a real promise to Scotland’s children, and in that regard this SNP Government has been found wanting.
15:42
In this debate, I was keen to praise the positive behaviour of children. If everything is framed through a negative lens, all that it does is risk demoralising parents, pupils and teachers. Karen Adam was absolutely right about that. We need to be mindful of how we characterise Scotland’s schools. For example, the behaviour in Scottish schools research—which involved surveying 4,000 staff who work in our schools every day—showed that most of Scotland’s young people are well behaved. We lose nuance when we focus overtly on extremes. I am particularly worried about that in relation to debates on behaviour, because we risk demonising a generation when we characterise Scotland’s schools in such a way.
To return to some of the comments that I made at the beginning of the debate, this is the generation that lived through a global pandemic, so their experience of our education system will be different. I reflect, though, having listened to contributions from colleagues—
Will the cabinet secretary take an intervention?
I am happy to do so.
Does the cabinet secretary at least accept that this debate is not about our schools, but about the promises that the Government made to the people of Scotland and the changes that it intended to deliver but did not?
I accept that the debate is about the Government’s record on education. I listened to some of Roz McCall’s points on outcomes, but it is important to record that the recent statistics on outcomes for our primary pupils show that the proportion of pupils who achieve expected curriculum for excellence levels in literacy has increased to the highest level to date. Among S3 pupils, the proportion of pupils who achieve third level or better in literacy and numeracy is also at its highest ever level, and the poverty-related attainment gap for primary pupils in literacy narrowed in 2024-25 to its lowest ever level. Those are the outcomes for our children and young people. Let us be careful about how we characterise the schools in which they learn.
We heard from Karen Adam about the importance of leadership, culture and the wider system, as well as the need to change. Things have been difficult in our schools since the pandemic, the effect of which we must not diminish because it continues to affect attainment, attendance and engagement in the broader life of the school.
I was struck by Liz Smith’s comments on readiness for work. I am very sorry that she will be leaving the Parliament at the election. Like me, she is a former teacher, and we have engaged in many debates and sat together on education committees over the years. I am sorry that she will not be contributing as an MSP in the future, but I am sure that she will continue to make a contribution and will watch closely to see the impact of her Schools (Residential Outdoor Education) (Scotland) Act 2026.
One of the major shifts in recent years has been the increase in the number of technical and vocational qualification awards. Last year alone, more than 116,000 such qualifications were awarded. As Liz Smith knows, the skills for life qualifications cover topics such as teamwork and personal finance more broadly. Therefore, the curriculum provides broader opportunities to address some of her points about readiness for work. It is also worth recording that the Qualifications Scotland statistics that were published showed that, last year, there was the highest level of attainment in such qualifications since 2019. However, on readiness for work, we need to do more to support young people who struggle during the transition from school to work or, indeed, higher education.
Paul McLennan talked about the Scottish Government’s record and mentioned the achievements in our schools. He talked about pass rates for national 5s and highers having increased since 2019, which is important, and the attainment gap in primary schools having narrowed to a record low level, as I mentioned. The latest Universities and Colleges Admissions Service data shows that record numbers of 18-year-olds have secured a university place, including a record number of 18-year-olds from deprived backgrounds.
None of that progress would have been possible without the hard work of Scotland’s dedicated teaching workforce, so I am pleased that we were again able to offer an uplift in teacher pay at the end of last year. That means that Scotland’s teachers continue to be the best paid in the United Kingdom, with classroom teachers at the top of the scale now being paid just over £52,000 per year. That is significant investment. In fact, since 2021, the Government has invested more than £800 million in increasing teacher wages. We have done that because we value our teachers, and when we value our teachers, they deliver results.
I am mindful of the time. In closing what I expect to be the final debate on education during Opposition time in this parliamentary session, I will return to the words that I used in a debate on the national discussion on Scottish education nearly three years ago. At that time, the facilitators of the national discussion noted
“an optimism for the future of Scottish education”,
and I said that there was
“an overwhelming appetite for change in Scottish education.”—[Official Report, 31 May 2023; c 31.]
I am a bit heart-sore, but not surprised, that we have not heard much of that optimism for the future of Scottish education this afternoon, because things are getting better in our schools following Covid, and things will need to change if we are to intensify that progress.
I hope to be a member of the next Parliament that ensures that the opportunity for meaningful improvement and constructive debate is not missed. Scottish education and Scotland’s children deserve better.
15:47
I remind members that my wife is a primary school teacher.
I will start with the words of the former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon:
“My aim—to put it bluntly—is to close the attainment gap completely. It will not be done overnight—I accept that. But it must be done.”
That was said in 2015. Willie Rennie was quite right to point to the fact that the former First Minister made a promise to the poorest children in Scotland—a promise that she has singularly failed to keep. It is very dispiriting and disappointing that she is not in the chamber to defend her record, even though she is on the estate. Presiding Officer, you could have a coffee with her in the garden lobby and ask her why she is not here. Perhaps she is working on the last chunky chapter of her book. I hope that she finds time in it to explain and apologise for her record of failure.
The reality is that the SNP has given up on closing the poverty-related attainment gap. That theme was eloquently taken up by Miles Briggs. The reality is that the gap between school leavers from the most deprived areas of our country and those from the least deprived areas has worsened or barely changed over the past decade since Nicola Sturgeon made those remarks.
Paul McLennan said that he did not want to trade statistics and then gave a slew of statistics, so let me reply to him. The SNP’s pledge to close the gap within 10 years lies in tatters. At the current rate, it will take 133 years to close the primary school numeracy gap and 57 years to close the primary school literacy gap. I could go on. At that pace, we will all be long dead before we achieve the lofty goal that Nicola Sturgeon set us and herself all those years ago.
Teacher recruitment is in crisis. Record numbers of early career teachers are quitting. Scot Lib Dem figures show that more than 400 recently trained teachers left the profession last year alone, and newly qualified teachers cannot get stable jobs. Only 23 per cent of newly qualified teachers report being able to secure a full-time teaching job in their profession of choice, down from 56.5 per cent. Since 2018, thousands of teachers have left the register within five years of starting, and supply lists are swelling.
Moving on to violence in our schools, as a former youth worker who will never do down young people, I recognise that violence is a product of the environment in which young people have been brought up and the impact of the pandemic. However, we cannot ignore it. Some 40,000-plus violent incidents were reported in 2023-24. In Glasgow alone, 2,500 violent incidents were reported in one year.
The cabinet secretary sought to kill Willie Rennie with kindness in her opening remarks, but there was a cognitive dissonance in those remarks. I am sure that the 400 newly qualified teachers I spoke of who left the profession last year will be reconsidering their life choices and reaching to phone the education authority now that they have learned about the Government’s working group to look at the problem. Stop the press—it is all going to be fine.
That cognitive dissonance was also taken up by Karen Adam. I was disappointed in her. She usually speaks incredibly well but leant into the lazy SNP tactic of suggesting that, by having the temerity to raise the topic in Opposition time, we are somehow doing down teachers or pupils. Ms Adam would do well to remember that teachers are growing tired of the Scottish Government and its back benchers using them as human shields in that way. Those teaching unions and pupils would be over the moon to have just one afternoon of Government time devoted to the problems in the education system that the SNP has presided over.
I was so glad to be present to hear Liz Smith’s last contribution on the education topic. She has brought so much light and expertise to the chamber since her entry to the Scottish Parliament in 2007. In every one of those debates, she has lifted the standard of public debate and the ambitions of the Scottish Parliament. I fundamentally agree with the excellent tribute that was paid to her by Martin Whitfield. Her voice will be such a loss to the chamber when she steps down in May. [Applause.]
When the Liberal Democrats last left government in 2007, Scottish education was among the best in the world. Only a handful of countries ranked above us in maths, but now, under the SNP, Scottish education is just average. Our maths scores in the international rankings are the lowest that they have ever been—that is not doing down teachers; it is a statement of fact. It is the same for reading and science—now, under the SNP, we have the worst ever scores. That theme was picked up well by Roz McCall.
Remember what John Swinney and the SNP said that they would do? Paul O’Kane ably reflected on that: a free laptop for every pupil, free school lunches up to primary 7, teachers spending fewer hours in front of class and more time preparing, smaller class sizes, closing the poverty-related attainment gap, and 3,500 more teachers. None of that has been delivered—not one bit of it.
The impact, after 19 years of the SNP, is that Scottish education is just not what it used to be. People feel let down. Every week, without exception, I meet families—as I am sure you do, Presiding Officer—who are worried that their child’s additional support needs are not being met or that their teenager is frequently absent from school, toiling under that long shadow of lockdown, or they are worried about the violence in their schools, which is captured on phones and spreads across social media like wildfire. Children, parents and teachers all deserve better than that. Education is the best investment that we can make in our children’s potential and in our country’s future.
Here is the optimism that the cabinet secretary was looking for in this debate. Here is the Scottish Liberal Democrat plan for how we would do things differently. We will invest in pupil support assistants and specialist support, such as speech and language therapists. We will create a young carers lead in every school to help young carers balance education and caring for a loved one. We will use youth work as a means of reaching young people who are not successfully engaged in formal education. We will legislate to make classrooms mobile phone free, so that children can learn and teachers can teach. We need that legislation in order to make the cultural change required. It is just not fair to leave it up to headteachers and ministerial guidance.
We will also open up a new route for qualified primary school teachers who are stuck in precarious work to quickly gain the right to teach in our secondary schools—some of which are crying out for teachers. If someone needs to be able to teach an additional subject, we will help them, too. That will improve the teacher’s job prospects and will ensure that pupils have the teachers and the subject choice that they fundamentally deserve.
It is a scandal that three out of four newly qualified teachers are forced on to demoralising temporary zero-hours contracts. They are ready to shape young minds, and they have grafted for their qualifications. Why is the SNP Government forcing them to move abroad to find work or to spend years in jobs where they cannot pay their bills and rack up thousands of pounds of debt? It did not use to be like that.
We will end that scandal—and it is a scandal. It is part of our plan to fix the mess that the SNP has made of this country’s education.
That concludes the debate on judging the Scottish Government on its education record.
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