Chamber and committees

The teachers at Kirkintilloch high school say that there are no consequences for abusive and violent behaviour, which is why they are striking. We should go to that school and ask why it is not the case that every local authority is working together on a national plan to end violence and misbehaviour in school. That is the challenge that I set to the Scottish Government. It is not okay to say that things are okay in one school in one council area. Every school should be ending such behaviour, and we need to make sure that that happens.

I absolutely agree. The issue transcends the debate and affects the whole pupil population. That is why, for some time and especially following the pandemic, teachers have been expressing the fact that there have been behavioural changes. Bad behaviour from all pupils is brought into the classroom and there has been a lack of action to address that. Teachers at Kirkintilloch high school claim that pupils face “no consequences” for abusive or violent behaviour. Staff say that they have repeatedly raised concerns with management but have been “gaslit”, including by being told that their lessons were not exciting enough. From today, those teachers will refuse to cover classes and will not go on trips or support activities, although the action will stop short of a strike.

Teachers and unions are losing confidence in the ability of ministers to provide leadership on this critical issue. The cabinet secretary has mentioned several times her visits to schools, and I genuinely hope that she will make her next visit to Kirkintilloch high school to listen to those concerns and see how the Government’s relationships and behaviour in schools action plan will actually be delivered across all local authorities. We need that national leadership to make sure that the issue is addressed urgently.

Many organisations that work with care-experienced young people and young carers have identified specific problems that they face in maintaining their learning, from acknowledging specific personal situations to identifying the holistic support that they require. That is why our amendment looks towards what we would like to happen.

I believe that there is a growing consensus across the Parliament that young people who live in deprived areas are more likely to play a caring and support role for a loved one. Children who live in families that have at least one disabled member are more likely to be in poverty than children in families with no disabled member, and research tells us that young carers are more common in families that have an unemployed adult or are on a low income. That is why, as we call for in our amendment, we want ministers to undertake a review of policies to improve the identification of and support for care experienced and young carer pupils in schools, ensuring that they receive the necessary assistance to succeed in education.

Since I was elected, I have attended the young carers festival on many occasions, and heard at first hand what young carers would like. There is a blueprint, I think, to transform the options that are available to young carers that very much aligns with the work that is being undertaken through the Promise, as we have discussed with the responsible minister. I hope that the debate will see progress on that.

The debate is welcome, but ministers have sidestepped the most pressing issue that teachers and pupils currently raise, which is violence and discipline. There must be real action, which is why my amendment expresses concern over the rising level of violence in schools, which negatively impacts both attainment and wellbeing and calls on the Scottish Government to provide greater support for teachers and local authorities to tackle the issue.

I move amendment S6M-16330.4, to leave out from “welcomes” to end and insert:

“acknowledges that more than a quarter of children in Scotland live in poverty; recognises that, while investment in tackling child poverty through education is important, it must be accompanied by a focus on improving educational standards; notes that, while the Scottish Government has spent £1 billion on early years and childcare, there remains a significant disparity in the availability of early years provision across Scotland, which risks deepening inequalities and limiting parental employment opportunities, and has long-term consequences for children’s development and educational outcomes; further notes with concern that education in Scotland has gone backwards in Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) international rankings; acknowledges that the attainment gap in primary pupils’ reading, writing, literacy and numeracy remains similar to pre-COVID-19-pandemic levels and has failed to close; regrets that the pledge to provide universal free school meals for primary pupils has not been fulfilled; expresses concern over the rising level of violence in schools, which negatively impacts both attainment and wellbeing; calls on the Scottish Government to provide greater support for teachers and local authorities to tackle this issue; further calls for a review of policies to improve the identification of and support for care experienced and young carer pupils in schools, ensuring that they receive the necessary assistance to succeed in education, and believes that the Scottish Government’s main priority should be ensuring that every child, no matter their background, has the best start in life.”

A high number of military families have children in the independent school sector in Scotland. What discussions has the Scottish Government had on the impact of the UK Government’s introduction of VAT on school fees, and on this week’s news that the UK Government will also put VAT on school meals for those children?

I recently visited Craiglockhart primary school to see its free school library, which operates outside the school, 365 days a year, 24 hours a day, where children can help themselves to books, parents can give used books and the whole school community can access them. It is a great example of a children’s free library.

Has the cabinet secretary had any engagement with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities to make sure that every primary school across Scotland could have one of those built outside their school?

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions the education secretary has had with ministerial colleagues regarding action to improve access to books for, and encourage reading by, children and young people. (S6O-04275)

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether the remit of the Scottish child abuse inquiry remains appropriate. (S6O-04241)

The Deputy First Minister will know that people who have attended the inquiry are concerned that many victims have felt that their voices have not been heard, that non-disclosure agreements used by public bodies have often stopped truths coming out in the inquiry, and that it is looking at only historical abuse. One of the campaigners has put forward the idea of establishing an independent national whistleblowing officer for education and children’s services. Will the Deputy First Minister consider that, and will she meet me and campaigners to further discuss the issue?

I want to touch on literacy, because there has been a claim that the outcomes that we saw in the 2024 history exam results reflected falling literacy standards. We cannot see the performance of candidates across the subjects but, anecdotally, would the English teachers in your schools say that the same pupils who did not perform well in that history exam also did not perform well in English? Have you had conversations with them about that? The fact that we cannot benchmark those pupils’ performance means that that sort of anecdotal evidence is all that we have to go on.

That is an important point. On the engagement, it has not been easy to ensure that those people’s voices are heard.

In your opening statement, you mentioned the UNCRC. What impact has the incorporation of the UNCRC had on children and young people so far? You mentioned the Right Way project. I do not know a huge amount about that or about what people are asking for with regard to a framework for the delivery of the UNCRC. Could you say more about what that includes?

In your experience, has this happened in other representative volunteer organisations for other subjects? Are you the canary in the mine, and is it the collapse in the results that have identified the issue and created this conversation? An adversarial culture has been allowed to develop.