Chamber and committees

We expect to issue an Invitation to Tender in relation to our Reaching 100% programme later this year. However, this is dependent on a number of factors, including the accuracy of information provided in response to the Open Market Review and the duration of the subsequent public consultation on our draft intervention area. It is vital that we design these new procurements correctly to ensure that they deliver the best possible outcome for Scotland.

The Global Gaps report identifies a small decline in performance among the highest performing science pupils in Scotland in 2015. The performance remains in line with OECD average and we remain committed to ensuring excellence in science education as part of our wider Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) approach.

All children will develop a strong grounding in science through their broad general education. Our draft STEM Strategy consultation, published in November 2016, will set out our approach to raising levels of STEM enthusiasm, skills and knowledge across the education, training and lifelong learning landscape.

As set out in our draft STEM strategy, the Scottish Government and its agencies are taking a range of actions to improve STEM learning experiences. These include a comprehensive range of support for science teaching made available by Education Scotland. We are providing £855,000 per annum to the Scottish Schools Education Research Centre to develop the science skills of primary and secondary teachers and technicians. In addition, a 3-year £1 million fund has been established, in partnership with the Wood Foundation, to boost science learning in primary schools.

The Scottish Government welcomes the Global Gaps report which adds to our understanding of some of the challenges we want to address in our determination to raise attainment for all and close the attainment gap in our education outcomes.

The report is clear that out of 37 other OECD countries and UK administrations Scotland’s performance in maths at the 90th percentile is similar to the OECD average. The combination of the strong foundations laid out by Curriculum for Excellence, targeted interventions through the Scottish Attainment Challenge, the professionalism of our teacher workforce and the strong leadership that exists at a national level put us in a good position to deliver our ambition for Scotland’s children and young people in mathematics and across the curriculum.

The latest statistics available, for September 2016, show:

(a)

Data is not collected for nursery settings specifically, but for all centres providing the funded entitlement of Early Learning and Childcare (ELC). There are 314 teachers (151 FTE) working within ELC settings providing the funded entitlement in the 20% most deprived areas. There are 15 teachers (13 FTE) working at centres in the 20% least deprived areas. There are also 225 centrally employed ELC teachers (188 FTE) working in various centres across Scotland who therefore cannot be assigned to an SIMD area.

(b)

(i) There were 5,418 FTE teachers in primary schools in the 20% most deprived areas.

(ii) There were 3,664 FTE teachers in primary schools in the 20% least deprived areas.

There were also 351 FTE centrally employed primary teachers that could not be assigned to an SIMD area.

(c)

(i) There were 3,298 FTE teachers in secondary schools in the 20% most deprived areas.

(ii) There were 5,213 FTE teachers in secondary schoosl in the 20% least deprived areas.

There were also 888 FTE centrally employed secondary teachers that could not be assigned to an SIMD area.

(d)

There were 1,330 FTE primary classroom assistants in schools in the 20% most deprived areas.

(ii) There were 595 FTE primary classroom assistants in schools in the 20% least deprived areas.

 All the above statistics are based on location of school or setting and do not reflect the level of deprivation of children attending that setting or school.

The Scottish Government welcomes the Global Gaps report which adds to our understanding of some of the challenges we want to address in our determination to raise attainment for all and close the attainment gap in our education outcomes.

Curriculum for Excellence provides the flexibility needed to support children from any background with varying levels of need and ability and our Scottish Attainment Challenge sets a clear expectation that all children from disadvantaged homes will be supported to reach their full potential. Numeracy and Mathematics is one of the four priority areas identified by the Challenge. Closing the poverty related attainment gap is the priority of the Scottish Government and we have committed £750 million of funding through the Scottish Attainment Challenge over the course of this Parliament with the aim of addressing the matters that the report highlights.

In supporting mathematics in the curriculum, a comprehensive range of teacher support materials for numeracy and mathematics have been made available from Education Scotland. These include the online and interactive National Numeracy and Mathematics Hub, a network of local authority numeracy ‘champions’ and the Read, Write, Count campaign, supporting home learning for children in Primary 1 to Primary 3 with their literacy and numeracy learning. The Making Maths Count programme seeks to boost mathematics achievement in Scotland. We will be working closely with partners to take forward the recommendations from the Making Maths Count report on raising levels of maths confidence and skills in Scotland.

Skills Development Scotland have advised that, as of week commencing 20 February, the average time for applicants to the Transition Training Fund to be notified of a decision regarding their application is 33 days. However, these timescales are often determined by the time taken by applicants to provide the required documentation.

As I highlighted in the response to question S5W-06405 to ensure that as many children as possible benefit from this commitment local authorities will have flexibility to draw on their local data to prioritise how they allocate their additional graduates.

We are currently working closely with local authorities on progressing this commitment, and will ask them provide plans setting out how they propose to allocate the additional places in their area and which settings will receive the graduates. This will provide a final list of the 435 nurseries that will receive an additional graduate.

The list of nurseries in each local authority who will receive an additional graduate will be published on the Scottish Government web site once local authorities have submitted their final plans for implementing this commitment.

I will provide the Education and Skills Committee with an update once this information is available.

We are currently working closely with local authorities to progress this commitment, including on the development of supporting plans. Following discussion with local authorities we will set a deadline for plans to be submitted.

The management structure in schools, including the appointment of Principal Teachers, is a matter for individual local authorities to determine in line with their local needs and priorities. The latest summary statistics for Schools in Scotland published in December 2016 shows an overall increase of 253 in the total number of teachers employed across Scotland.

Scottish Ministers have committed, through the '2017 National Improvement Framework and Improvement Plan for Scottish Education', which is available at http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2016/12/8072, to develop a range of national programmes to further extend the reach and impact of the Scottish Attainment Challenge, and this will include looking at issues such as the impact of rural deprivation on attainment.