Government accused of presiding over 'endemic failures in Scottish education'
Scotland's education system has been broken by the SNP, with a whole generation of pupils being failed by the Scottish Government, Tory leader Ruth Davidson has said.
Scotland's education system has been broken by the SNP, with a whole generation of pupils being failed by the Scottish Government, Tory leader Ruth Davidson has said.
She attacked Nicola Sturgeon over her party's record on schooling, accusing ministers of having "spent 10 years failing to sort out endemic failures in Scottish education".
While the Scottish Government is carrying out a review of governance in education, Ms Davidson insisted a wider "root-and-branch" assessment is needed to address the problems.
She challenged the SNP leader on the issue at First Minister's Questions, with the clash coming after MSPs on Holyrood's Education Committee claimed exams body the Scottish Qualifications Authority "exists in a parallel universe" and the system is "in danger of sinking in a sea of jargon".
Ms Davidson claimed there is "criticism and a loss of confidence" in the system from right across the chamber.
The Tory leader said: "My question to the Government is how have you allowed this to happen on your watch?
"My question is how many more pupils have to be failed before we get a root-and-branch review of everything and all the changes we actually need?"
Ms Sturgeon pointed to record exam results and the highest ever proportion of schools leavers going on to work, college or other "positive destinations", and added: "I don't accept the characterisation of failure."
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The First Minister, who has previously said closing the attainment gap in schools is her top priority, said: "For the avoidance of any doubt I am responsible for taking forward this Government's commitments when it comes to education, with of course the Deputy First Minister, the Education Secretary."
She said the Tory leader "does a disservice to the work that is going on in education".
She told MSPs: "Let me touch on a few of the things that not surprisingly Ruth Davidson didn't mention. The fact that over the last few years we've got record exam passes in Scotland, a credit to teachers and our young people.
"Let's also mention the fact that we've got a record number of young people going into positive destinations in Scotland, a credit to our teachers and to our young people.
"Yes we've got an attainment gap that I've made very clear we are determined to close, but we see signs of that already closing. So these are the positive things about education - it doesn't surprise me Ruth Davidson wants to talk it down."
With the governance review going on until January, she insisted her administration is "determined to ask the hard fundamental questions about how we make Scottish education better".
This will look at the work of the SQA and Education Scotland, Ms Sturgeon said, as well as the role of the Scottish Government and local councils
The First Minister added: "At the heart of this governance review is our commitment to ensure as much power and responsibility in education lies with teachers in schools, because that's a key part in our view of driving the improvement we want to see."
But Ms Davidson told her: "She might want to reflect, just for a second, on who has actually been in charge for the last 10 years. Because over the last few days this Parliament's Education Committee and education experts have begun to shine a light on that record.
"For example it emerged yesterday that teachers are swamped with no fewer than 20,000 pages of guidance for Curriculum for Excellence, parents groups have pointed out these documents are 'totally inaccessible' to the average mum or dad, and expert evidence has revealed parents and teachers have no way of knowing if Curriculum for Excellence is even working or not.
"I hear the First Minister talking about all the things she plans to do in the future, but frankly we've heard about reviews and commissions and listening exercises before.
"The evidence before this Parliament points to a system that is broken, and let's spell out what the consequences are of 10 years of inaction from this Government: We have a stubbornly wide attainment gap that is not closing, we have numeracy standards that are falling, we have inspections that are at a five-year low, and we have some teachers that are telling us the exams they are currently asking children to sit are the worst they have ever seen.
"It is a generation of pupils that are being failed by the SNP and teachers who are trying their best are swamped by bureaucracy."
Ms Sturgeon said Mr Swinney has already "taken steps to reduce the bureaucracy", pointing out that guidance for teachers had built up "over many years".
She also said the Government is "getting on and implementing the national improvement framework", which will produce more information than before on the performance of schools.
"I think these are the steps parents in this country want to see us take because we are determined that we will have a world-class education system, that we will have rising standards for all, and we will close that gap in attainment," the First Minister added.