Government accused of 'failing' on education after report on pupil performance

Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson says new analysis of Scottish pupils' performance shows the Government has ''failed utterly'' over the past decade to set education on the right course.

She said a report from the Sutton Trust revealed ''particularly shameful'' findings on attainment and science.

Researchers at the trust found a gap equivalent to more than two years in schooling for science, reading and maths between poor pupils in the top 10% of achievers nationally compared to their equally clever but well-off peers.

Their analysis used the latest results from international Pisa tests to examine the performance of 10% of the most able pupils in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, taking into account their background.

In the past decade, the gap in science performance between all pupils in Scotland has increased by around a year of schooling, described in the report as a ''major weakness''.

Ms Davidson seized on the findings during First Minister's Questions at Holyrood.

She said: ''We now see the consequences of 10 wasted years of this SNP Government and the harm it has done to the life chances of our pupils.''

Ms Davidson described the Government's legacy as a ''generation of Scottish children who are being left behind in the race for qualifications and for future jobs''.

Nicola Sturgeon said it was important to note that the Sutton Trust's report was based on data that pre-dates its latest measures to close the attainment gap.

''It is an important report. It is one that aides our understanding of the challenges we need to address in order to tackle the attainment gap,'' she said.

''I think it is important to note, though, that the Sutton Trust does not present new data. It is analysis of the Pisa scores that were published in December. Of course, the Pisa scores are based on a survey that was carried out two years ago.

A survey that pre-dates the Attainment Challenge and pre-dates the reforms to our education system that are under way.''

Ms Davidson said: ''The First Minister fails to address some of those clear recommendations that are in that report... recommendations that could make a difference to a child's education.''

The report suggests the best performing schools should help support pupils in those which are under-performing.

''A project specifically twinning flagship schools with under-performing schools in Scotland was recently dumped by this Government without any real explanation and with Education Scotland confirming that there was no new money to keep it going,'' Ms Davidson said.

And the blunt truth is that the Sutton Trust findings on attainment and science are particularly shameful. To help turn this around, we said that bursaries should be provided to attract the brightest graduates into science teaching, and last week the Royal Society of Edinburgh supported this call.

On the report's key recommendations, Ms Sturgeon said: ''We have already established what it called the insight system, which allows teachers in the senior phase to see how their schools are performing compared to others, identify areas of success and identify where improvements can be made.''

''Yesterday the Scottish Government decided instead to launch a poster campaign.''

A recommendation on the importance of pupil monitoring is also being taken forward, she added.

''That of course is what the national improvement framework is all about, informed by standardised assessments and the school by school data that we are now publishing.

We have a range of reforms that are under way to make sure we do improve attainment overall and close the attainment gap. In terms of getting teachers into schools... we will continue to take the steps that we consider to be appropriate.

What John Swinney and the General Teaching Council have announced over recent times is a range of different ways to attract our best and brightest into teaching, particularly into areas where there is identified to be a shortage.''

Ms Sturgeon said there are signs of a narrowing of the attainment gap''.

She added: ''I want to see it narrow further and I want to see it narrow faster, which is why we are taking the action that we are doing.''

Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale also challenged the First Minister on education, saying the Sutton Trust report exposed the ''catastrophic failures'' by the SNP Government.

She said: ''Time and time again I have come here and argued that the SNP are leaving the poorest children behind. Now this report shows they are also holding the brightest children back.''

She recalled the First Minister had said education would be the ''defining priority'' of her administration, but claimed that in power she is failing a whole generation of children''.

The Labour leader said: ''There is a simple truth, missed by both the SNP and the Tories, if we want to give young people the best possible chance in life we have to invest in them and that means investing in local schools.

What we get from the SNP though is #1.5 billion of cuts since 2011.''

She went on to claim that schools had lost 4,000 teachers under the SNP, including 826 in science and maths since 2007.

But Ms Sturgeon pointed to additional cash going to schools as a result of the Attainment Fund, which will see £120 million given directly to head teachers.

The First Minister said: ''That is the kind of investment we need to see in our schools, the kind of investment that this Government is delivering in our schools.''

While she said politicians are right to ask questions about education, Ms Sturgeon also insisted they have ''an obligation to get behind the reforms we are introducing''.

She added: ''Some of these reforms we see members on the Labour benches having initially backed them, but when they come under some pressure on them decide they don't back them at all.

This Sutton Trust report underlines the importance and necessity of those reforms to education.''

• attaintment
• scottish schools
• Ruth Davidson
• Nicola Sturgeon