Chamber and committees

There are challenges in that space. We must consider the historical position of lots of different organisations. Today, I am in front of you as education secretary, but I am mindful that the issue is not only about, for example, teachers reporting potential examples of abuse happening in schools; it also involves social work, and police have a role to play. We need to be mindful of the different parts of Government that mandatory reporting would affect.

Andrew Watson might want to say more about some of the background on mandatory reporting, but I put on the record that ministers support it in principle, which is important. Andrew, do you want to add anything further?

Undoubtedly, more can be done, but the progress that Mr Macpherson has set out has been remarkable. We now have far more children and young people from poorer communities going on to university, because they think it is for them. We know that, in the past, they did not think that, and it is really important that those pathways are open.

I am also mindful of the fact that, post-pandemic, some of our progress in this respect has stalled in a way that it had not done previously, although I think that the most recent statistics were very welcome news. The UCAS data published on exam results day again showed progress on widening access, and that is to be welcomed.

My own view is that there is now a much more distinct link between what is happening in our schools and the pathways to college and university, partly because we now have a far broader range of qualifications. I am sure that we will talk about school education in due course, but, if we look at this year’s examination results, we will see that more than 100,000 technical and vocational qualifications are being delivered, with pathways being created that did not previously exist for young people.

We have seen a real sea change in the way that our education system is delivering for our children and young people. Universities have been in the driving seat of some of that culture shift, and they have recognised their responsibilities. I do not know whether Mr Macpherson wants to say more about that.

Yes, I am aware of that. However, I was not aware of the internal dialogue between the chief social worker and Alexis Jay, which I heard about in this morning’s evidence session.

As I understand it, there was not a debate from Alexis Jay in relation to the approach she sought, which, I believe, was to amend the minutes—I should say, convener, that I did not catch the entirety of the evidence session, so I would be happy to write to the committee with more detail on that point if that would be helpful. As I understood it at the time, Professor Alexis Jay’s preferred route was, following her engagement on that matter with the chief social work adviser, a clarification in the minutes.

I will check my briefing on that exact point and on the exact wording, because I want to be accurate. Given what we are talking about, that is important. I am happy to write to the committee in more detail in that regard.

Good morning. The year 2025 is proving to be a landmark one in Scottish education. Children in our primary and secondary schools are achieving record levels in literacy and numeracy. Crucially, the poverty-related gap in attainment in literacy and numeracy between children from the most and the least deprived communities is at a record low level.

Attendance of children and young people has increased, with the attendance rate reaching 91 per cent in 2024-25. Thanks to our additional investment in this year’s budget, we have seen an increase in the number of teachers in Scotland’s classrooms, an improvement in the pupil-to-teacher ratio and a reduction in average class size. The evidence demonstrates that our focus on the ABCs—attendance, attainment, behaviour and curriculum—is working. It also demonstrates the commitment to equity in our schools, thanks to the transformational impact of the Scottish attainment challenge over the past decade.

Progress continues to be made on widening access to higher education. The latest Universities and Colleges Admissions Service data in 2025 shows continuing positive trends, such as the number of 18-year-olds accepted from the most deprived areas having increased to 2,200 since the 2024 cycle. That is a record high, with young people choosing to study in Scotland, supported by Scotland’s continued commitment to free tuition. There was also a positive picture for entrants to further and higher education who are care experienced or have a disability.

How we support children in their earliest years and ensure that no child is left behind is key to enabling more children and young people to succeed at school and beyond. The number of children in care is now at the lowest level since 2006. Every three and four-year-old and more than 230,000 children in primaries 1 to 5 are entitled to a free school meal, and we have expanded entitlement in primary 6 and 7 and into secondary 1 to 3. This year, we have awarded £3 million to 490 breakfast clubs, which has helped to establish 142 new clubs, created almost 9,000 places and supported up to 20,000 children.

However, I fully acknowledge that more work can always be done and that challenges remain. The proportion of eligible two-year-olds who are registered for early learning and childcare has fallen nationally, which is disappointing. Our investment in an Improvement Service project in five local authority areas seeks to address barriers and apply what works across Scotland.

Attendance is improving, but still too many children are persistently absent from school, which is why Education Scotland continues to run its improving attendance quality improvement programme, and I have tasked the interim chief inspector of education with ensuring that persistent absence is addressed in every school inspection.

New data shows that 43 per cent of our children and young people have additional support needs. Addressing that is a priority, and I set out more on that in my statement to the Parliament last week. I also recognise the financial challenges that colleges and universities face, and my officials continue to work closely with the sector to support them where we can.

I anticipate that the budget process will be challenging for the Scottish Government as a whole. In that context, there is strong delivery on our work to give children the best start in life. It is supported by this year’s £4.3 billion investment in education and skills, which is a £123 million uplift on the previous year. That should be celebrated but also protected.

My ministers and I welcome the opportunity to discuss those achievements and challenges with you this morning.

We have been working with the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers on reducing teachers’ workload. The main way that we will achieve that, to my mind, is by reducing class contact. We know that Scotland’s teachers are currently working more hours than they should be, and a large part of that—as, I think, the Educational Institute of Scotland has documented in recent weeks and months—relates to the increase in additional support needs, which I am sure we will come on to talk about. With the increase in additional support needs diagnosis, which I think is important, comes the associated increase in bureaucracy—we need to be mindful of that.

As Mr Greer knows, the changes need to be driven through the SNCT. It is regrettable that we have not been able to make as much progress in that space, particularly on reducing class contact, as we had hoped to do by this point, although I welcome the fact that we have been able to get record pay deals through the SNCT. In recent weeks, there has been another pay increase for Scotland’s teachers, ensuring that they remain the highest paid in these islands. That is very welcome, but, to my mind, reducing class contact is the thing that will make the difference. We have to go further in that regard.

I also want to give Mr Greer some reassurance. A few weeks ago, I set out some of the Government’s proposals for how that reduction might be delivered. That is, of course, a matter for the SNCT to engage in, and I understand—Alison Taylor, who is to my left, will keep me right on this—that the trade unions made public comment on that yesterday. There will also be a meeting tomorrow with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities on how we can take that work forward. I am very keen—as you will know from public commentary—that we use a number of pilots across the country to look at how that reduction could be delivered.

We have to work with the profession on how that works, how it is timetabled and what it looks like in primary versus secondary, but, to my mind, reducing teacher class contact is the thing that will make the difference. I am disappointed that we have not been able to make as much progress as we should have done, but I am pleased that there seems to be some movement from partners in that regard. That is to be welcomed, and I give Mr Greer a reassurance that we will be grasping the thistle on the issue, because, to my mind, it is the thing that will make the biggest difference for our teachers and pupils.

I do not know whether Alison Taylor wants to add something on officials’ engagement on the issue.

I agree with Mr Rennie that local authorities and the Government have a responsibility, which is why the Government fully funds the probationer scheme. I think that the Scottish Government provides around £42 million of funding for that scheme. We need our local authorities to play a role in the employment of teachers, but the main issue is that we have been unable to get agreement on the use of time through the SNCT, which has prevented us from moving forward. Had we been able to secure that agreement before now, we would have been able to move forward regardless of the other points that Mr Rennie made about extra teachers because of the points that I made about independent modelling.

I hear that you were here. I was not here at that time either.

It is important that we look at the progress that has been made. In the chamber, I regularly hear all the critique from Mr Rennie and others around the table about our schools, and yet this year’s exam results show that the pass rate for national 5s and highers is up and the advance higher pass rate is up compared to last year. Grade A percentages in national 5, highers and advance highers are up. The deprivation gap has narrowed for national 5, highers and advance highers. The results also show increases in our technical and vocational qualifications. The data that I set out to Mr O’Kane also tells us a positive story of improvement.

I accept that there is more to do and I do not detract from that. We need to intensify progress. I set out some of that to Parliament last week, and Education Scotland and the inspectorate will need to take forward further work. I hope, however, that members can get behind some of the positive results that we are seeing in our schools. I do not detract from the challenges, much of which are in the funding space—I am interested in Mr Rennie’s views on that. However, these are real successes for children and young people, despite what they experienced through the global pandemic, and we should be proud of them.

I am sorry, but I do not recognise the position that Mr Rennie is taking on this issue. We need to be cognisant of the pandemic, which was a factor, but we also need to be cognisant of austerity.

In my constituency, which is just down the road from where Mr Rennie is, we see real challenges from poverty. I am mindful that the poverty that is being experienced in households, where bills are going up and mortgage payments and rents are going through the roof, means that things are tough at home, and that also impacts on educational outcomes. We cannot pretend that the attainment challenge has existed in a silo that has been divorced from the wider societal changes that have happened during that time.

When young people’s education was disrupted, it undoubtedly had an impact on progress. but that is not unique to the system in Scotland. We see challenges across the world in relation to attendance and attainment, with a generation of young people’s attainment behind where it would have been. I do not accept that Scotland is an outlier in that regard.

I hear the points that Mr Rennie makes about the recovery plan. Of course, there is more that we will need to consider, and I am all ears to hearing from Mr Rennie about where that targeted work and intervention should be. However, I am currently focused on working with local authorities. Officials will be meeting and working them tomorrow on how we can drive further intensification of support.

The national writing improvement programme, which I spoke to Mr O’Kane about, is a good example of that, as is the work that Andy Brown is leading on the improvement to numeracy. Those interventions will make the difference, and having that targeted support for local authorities is really important.

There are.