Meeting of the Parliament 22 September 2015
Despite the fiscal challenges of the past eight years, education in Scotland has made real progress. The Government has rebuilt or refurbished 526 schools, curriculum for excellence is setting higher standards for achievement than ever before and this year saw a record number of passes at higher and advanced higher, with more people receiving qualifications that relate to wider skills for life and work. More students are staying on at school until sixth year, which has been made possible for many by our retention and now extension of the education maintenance allowance. Through our developing the young workforce strategy, we are ensuring that all young people can undertake relevant, work-related learning as part of the curriculum.
We know that fewer people are leaving school with very low levels of qualifications, or no qualifications, and that more than nine out of 10 of last year’s school leavers were in employment, education or training nine months after leaving school. We know that more of our population is educated at tertiary level than is the case in any other European country. We have a world-class higher education system, and our commission on widening access is working to ensure that all children have an equal chance of going to university.
We should all join in celebrating the achievements of our children and young people but, if we are to realise our ambition of a more socially just Scotland, we know that there is much more to do. We must build on success to ensure that every child and every young person, regardless of their background, receives an education that gives them the skills that they need to thrive rather than simply survive in life—an education that allows them to fly, not just get by. We want to have an education system that is focused on attainment and achievement and which is built around delivering equity and excellence and—crucially—aspiration and ambition.
Improving educational attainment for all children and tackling inequality are at the heart of this Government’s agenda. Educational excellence is the means by which to achieve our ambitions as a nation and to close the attainment gap. No child should be born to fail. I want every child in Scotland to have every chance to fulfil his or her potential. We owe it to them to rise to the challenge of addressing the inequalities that persist in our education system.
Core skills are crucial to success, so we have stepped up work to improve children’s numeracy and literacy skills. Education Scotland inspections will increase their focus on raising attainment in literacy. We are spending £1.5 million per year on the read, write, count campaign for children in primaries 1 to 3. Through the making maths count programme, I have committed to providing more support to secondary school maths teachers to prepare and share resources.
According to the charity National Numeracy,
“it is culturally acceptable in the UK to be negative about maths”.
We need to change that. We need to create a much more positive attitude to maths as an essential skill for learning, life and work. That is why I am establishing an expert group to explore attitudes to, and to promote greater enthusiasm for and confidence in, maths and numeracy among children and young people. I can announce that the group will be chaired by Maureen McKenna, who is the executive director of education services at Glasgow City Council. The group will be tasked with establishing a better understanding of the negative public perceptions of maths and numeracy and of how they can be addressed; recommending practical, cost-effective approaches to encouraging greater public enthusiasm for maths and numeracy; and considering how best to address the areas for development for learners that are identified through the Scottish survey of literacy and numeracy and other sources.
We know that early learning and childcare contributes significantly to achievement and attainment in the early years and throughout children’s school education, and we know that high-quality early learning and childcare has major benefits in particular for those from the poorest families and that it contributes to narrowing the attainment gap for such children. Therefore, we are taking action here.
The Government has already done more than any other part of the United Kingdom to increase the entitlement to free early learning and childcare for all three and four-year-olds, and—for the first time—for more than a quarter of all two-year-olds. Over the coming years, we will almost double that entitlement, from 600 to 1,140 hours per year.