Hansard

It is my belief that the Education (Scotland) Bill can lay the foundations for raising attainment in Scotland. That will not happen overnight and it will not be easy for us to close the attainment gap completely, but the most important things in life are never easy. I welcome stage 1 of the bill and look forward to working with colleagues on the Education and Culture Committee as the bill progresses.

I would like to discuss in more detail a number of aspects of the bill. Most important, the bill will promote equity in education by placing a duty on councils, when exercising their education functions, to have regard to the need to narrow the attainment gap. The bill will ensure that all councils have an appropriately qualified and experienced chief education officer to provide professional advice on the provision of their education functions.

As someone who worked in a local authority and understands how local authorities work, I support the idea of a chief education officer. It is similar to having a chief. Many education authorities are merging social work and education, so it makes sense to have an educationist as the main officer. The Association of Directors of Education in Scotland stated:

“We welcome the Education (Scotland) Bill and the increased focus it places on the need deliver a better, more equitable education system for Scotland. The action being taken by the Scottish Government to address the disparity in outcomes faced by pupils from disadvantaged communities is positive as is their commitment to ensuring that each and every local authority has a Chief Education Officer.”

Poverty is one of the major challenges that we face as we seek to bridge the attainment gap. The Scottish Government is committed to doing everything in its power to eradicate poverty in Scotland. It is not acceptable to use poverty as an excuse for failure or for a young person being disadvantaged from birth. By 2020, an additional 100,000 Scottish children will be living in poverty because of United Kingdom welfare reforms—and that is before the next round of cuts that are due. School education is one of the most powerful tools that we have at our disposal to help to overcome the disadvantages associated with poverty. We must ensure that the education system can adapt to the career paths and work patterns of the future. That is a major theme of the Scottish Government’s on-going work to develop the young workforce.

The challenge before us is great but it is one that we must address. The recession, and the deep public spending cuts that followed it, have created pressures for Scottish Government, local government and many families. However, the fact remains that education in Scotland has made progress. In every part of the country, Scotland has good schools and good teachers, and our young people are good learners. Standards have risen and continue to rise. That is a testament to the hard work of our local authorities and the contribution of many other individuals and organisations. Most of all, though, it is a huge tribute to the dedication of teachers, parents and students throughout the country. One of the issues that arose in the committee’s discussions on the bill was the importance of parents in the process of attainment. We must ensure that we get parents involved with their child’s education, regardless of background.

The introduction of curriculum for excellence has been a major step forward. It gives teachers more flexibility, provides a broader education for young people and sets higher standards for achievement than ever before. The new national improvement framework will help to close the gap in attainment and ensure that all children are equipped with the skills that they need. This year’s ambitious programme for government put education at the very heart of the Scottish Government’s efforts to make Scotland a fair country. The Education (Scotland) Bill has a key role to play in that. First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said:

“Improving school attainment is arguably the single most important objective in this programme for government.”—[Official Report, 1 September 2015; c 18.]

The new national assessments will be developed in partnership with local government, teachers and parents. They will replace the variety of assessments that are currently used by local authorities—they will not add to teachers’ workload. This is not about narrowing the curriculum or forcing teachers to “teach to a test”. It will not mean a return to the bad old days of national testing; instead, it will provide a focus on the needs of individual pupils.

The bill proposes measures aimed at narrowing the attainment gap and further progresses the Scottish Government’s improvement agenda. The aim of tackling educational inequalities is at the heart of the SNP Government’s agenda. We want to ensure that all our children and young people get that chance and opportunity, regardless of where they live.

I welcome the fact that the attainment challenge will draw on the experience of the London challenge that helped to transform school performance in that city. It will also look at the experience internationally. As we all know, the challenge will be backed by an attainment fund of more than £100 million to drive forward improvements in educational outcomes in Scotland’s most disadvantaged communities.

We are all aware that the fund will initially target schools with the biggest concentration of households in deprived areas, identified through the Scottish index of multiple deprivation. I was heartened to hear Dr Bill Maxwell of Education Scotland tell the Education and Culture Committee in evidence this week that he believed that 30 of the 32 attainment advisers were already in place in local government and that he thinks that those would be the people focusing on where resource would go as we try to bridge the attainment gap in the future.

This bill is welcome because it provides us with a direction of travel with regard to closing the educational attainment gap in Scotland completely. As I have already stated, that will not happen overnight and it will be difficult. However, I believe that the bill provides the children of the people who we represent with a better opportunity to succeed in life and the tools that they need for their future.

Closing the attainment gap completely might be an ambitious goal, but it is one that we must all get behind and support.