Chamber and committees

Martin Whitfield raises an interesting point. My local authority, North Ayrshire, was one of the nine challenge authorities and, until the pandemic, was progressing very well on both raising attainment and reducing the poverty-related attainment gap overall. That was evidenced in an Education Scotland inspection report in July 2018, which stated:

“North Ayrshire Council is making very good progress with improving learning, raising attainment and narrowing the poverty-related attainment gap.”

In addition, the 2021 Scottish attainment challenge 2015 to 2020 impact report for North Ayrshire stated that North Ayrshire’s attainment in literacy and numeracy between 2016 and 2019 had improved for learners at all stages. The work that the local authority, teaching and support staff have done around professional learning, nurture, mental health and wellbeing and family learning has been valuable, and it has made a difference.

That is helpful. While we are scrutinising and challenging things and looking for things that we can do better, it is always important not to lose sight of the diligence, professionalism and commitment in our schools. We have heard about great examples of that.

When the convener, Michael Marra and I spoke with teachers on, er, Monday—forgive me for forgetting; it has been a long week already—we heard fantastic examples of work. I was particularly impressed by the work that is going on to bring in parents to assist with literacy; an example was given of a successful film club that had been run in a library.

One challenge that teachers raised was about the research that policy is built on. One teacher described some research as flawed, because it is not disaggregated by ethnicity. They also said that some research that is being used undervalues and underplays the importance of support for learning workers. In that teacher’s school, English is a second language for many children, and support for learning workers is crucial. An example was given of a young pupil being given an assessment in Turkish and, to quote the teacher, smashing it. If he had been given his assessment in English, the outcome would have been different. I am keen to hear your reflections on how we ensure that the research is not flawed and that policies are appropriate for all our children in schools.

I want to ask about the role of attainment advisers in more detail. Elizabeth Sommerville, you spoke earlier about taking down barriers in relation to both the local authority and the schools. Could you tell us a bit more about the degree to which attainment advisers are working with schools or with local authorities? It is always helpful to our understanding to hear examples of specific bits of work.

I am sorry to interrupt, but what is your understanding of why support workers would not be accessing those resources? Is that a question of time and workload? Do they not have the same space for professional development?

I am trying to understand what might go wrong and why somebody would say that there was an issue there. Is that a case of someone who is further removed from the school placing value on research that might not necessarily be appropriate to the pupil? Does that make sense? I am trying to understand where the comment that I mentioned came from.

It is a privilege to speak in this debate on the Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee’s report on the Scottish Government’s international work. I congratulate the committee, led by its convener, Clare Adamson, on a thorough and important piece of work.

The report is wide ranging, as has been reflected by the diversity of speeches that we have enjoyed listening to. The key themes that emerged from the committee’s inquiry were

“the importance of adopting a strategic approach

the need for a prioritisation of policies to flow from that approach

an emphasis on effective collaboration across government to encourage policy coherence in relation both to external affairs and how this interacts with domestic priorities

challenges in measuring impact and

how we enhance scrutiny”.

Scotland is a nation with a strong European heritage, outlook and values. In 2016, people voted overwhelmingly to remain in the EU and, at every election following that, people have endorsed the pro-Europe SNP. The committee’s report acknowledges the Scottish Government’s position that

“The founding values of the EU—human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights—are the Scottish Government’s values.”

The publication of the Scottish Government’s global affairs framework sets out with clarity the values and principles that underpin the Scottish Government’s international work. I agree with the cabinet secretary that it is important to note that the framework has been published at a time when, in the face of the invasion of Ukraine, all nations are being tested on whether they support not just the principle but the reality of adopting a rules-based approach to protect their values.

As the new global affairs framework sets out, and as is consistent with the evidence that was given to the committee’s inquiry, Scotland’s international work will be guided by key areas of focus, which are good global citizenship, maintaining the closest possible relationship with the European Union, gender equality, climate crisis and climate justice, respect for human rights and the rule of law, the role of our international networks and Scotland’s culture. I will focus on gender equality.

The Scottish Government has stated its commitment to employing a feminist foreign policy, which fulfils an SNP manifesto promise. As the first country in the UK to adopt such a policy, Scotland will join a small number of nations around the world that have done so, including Sweden, which was the first to do so, in 2014.

A feminist foreign policy includes moving away from what might traditionally be considered foreign policy and prioritising topics such as peace, gender equality, environmental issues and human rights. The focus is on the wellbeing of the world’s most marginalised people, including women and girls. The approach involves thinking about foreign policy and international relations from the viewpoint of the world’s most vulnerable groups and thereby taking an intersectional approach to challenging existing power structures such as racism, colonialism and male domination.

Sweden’s feminist foreign policy is based on the conviction that sustainable peace, security and development can never be achieved if half of the world’s population is excluded. The policy is a response to the discrimination and systematic subordination that still characterise everyday life for countless women and girls all over the world. Feminist foreign policy is an agenda for change to strengthen the rights, representation and resources of women and girls.

There are many examples of Sweden’s feminist foreign policy contributing positively to the world, including new legislation to prohibit the purchase of sexual services in several countries. Sweden has co-operated closely with countries that have been reviewing their legislation on prostitution and, in recent years, Ireland, France and Northern Ireland have adopted legislation that is equivalent to the legislation in Sweden.

Sweden has improved opportunities to combat domestic violence in China by co-financing a study on employee and employer knowledge of China’s legislation prohibiting domestic violence, with the aim of strengthening the private sector’s efforts against violence.

There have also been hundreds of thousands fewer unwanted pregnancies in east Africa because Sweden has intensified its work on sexual and reproductive health and rights. A Sweden-backed programme is estimated to have prevented hundreds of thousands of unwanted pregnancies and unsafe abortions in the region. Sweden has also helped thousands of new midwives per year in Afghanistan, Myanmar, South Sudan, Zambia and other countries by funding training for them, which has led to perhaps millions of women being able to give birth with the support of trained staff.

I endorse the remarks that my colleague Bill Kidd made on nuclear disarmament, trafficking and sexual exploitation. I understand that the Scottish Government will review its policies and programmes that have an international dimension to ensure that they reflect a feminist approach to foreign policy and that it will seek to learn from other countries on that. In doing that, our Government needs to be alive to our domestic policies as well as international ones.

Although Scotland approaches the matter from a relatively privileged position, with some world-leading legislation and with many sound policies, we have not yet eradicated the discrimination and violence that are everyday realities for far too many women and girls in Scotland. There is still a gap between policy intention and legislative reality in some areas—for example, the equally safe strategy is work in progress that requires some urgency.

Scotland’s international work can create domestic opportunities and attract investment. Being a good global citizen and strengthening relationships with countries and continents can only be of benefit to the people of Scotland.

Notwithstanding our obvious interest in initial teacher training, the right thing—based on what Kaukab Stewart has laid out—might be to close the petition.

There is obviously a great deal of interest in this important topic. I wonder whether one of our private business planning discussions would be the place to fully thrash out where we go with it. I agree with keeping the petition open but, with a full work programme, we want to be sure that we give it the attention that it deserves. We need to consider whether it fits into something else or needs to be separate. I propose that we keep the petition open and consider it the next time that we have a private business planning discussion.

This is a really important topic. I agree with Graeme Dey and the convener that, in the first instance, we should write to the cabinet secretary, asking for an update on when we will see that human rights-based policy and guidance. It is important for pupils, parents and teachers.

It does, thank you. That is helpful. One of the key things that I took from our session with the parents was that they repeatedly articulated that their families and their needs were understood. That was a very big thing.