Tories bid to change 'bog standard' schools into top performers
The Conservatives have called on Scots to rise up against ``bog standard'' comprehensive schools and back their plan to put head teachers in charge of their own budgets and recruitment.
The Conservatives have called on Scots to rise up against bog standard'' comprehensive schools and back their plan to put head teachers in charge of their own budgets and recruitment.
The Scottish Conservatives also want to pair the best and worst performing schools to share best practice and introduce new standardised testing for primary pupils, leader Ruth Davidson said.
The proposals are amongst a series of Scottish election manifesto pledges unveiled in a paper called The Gold Standard - a world class education for every child.
Ms Davidson said: I can't be satisfied - nor should any modern Scottish Conservative be satisfied - with a school system until it meets the aspirations of all parents, no matter their background.
In short, it is time for us to rise up against the bog standard comprehensive and work towards gold standard schools in every village, town and city in Scotland.
I don't want the international experts to be using words like 'good', 'average' or 'satisfactory' when they are describing our schools in future. I want our schools to be 'great' and, as these studies show, there is currently room for substantial improvement.''
A spokeswoman for Education Secretary Angela Constance said: The Tories are lagging behind when it comes to improving our education.
Making sure Scottish education is world class is already a priority for the Scottish Government, we have record exam results and the highest numbers of school leavers in work, training or education, 526 schools have been built or refurbished since this Government took office and we are making sure we have the right number of teachers by investing £51 million to protect teacher numbers.
Later this week the First Minister will announce the next steps in our National Improvement Framework, which alongside the £100 million Attainment Scotland Fund will play a key part in helping to close the attainment gap.
And through our continued support for Education Maintenance Allowances and free access to university, support the Tories would scrap, we are ensuring our young people get the best education for as long as they need it.''