Meeting of the Parliament 12 January 2016
We all want Scotland to have a world-class education system. The Labour amendment is designed to strengthen the Government motion, in which there is little to object to, apart from the usual complacency and a complete absence of any action to be taken towards achieving the end that it purports to be pursuing. No wonder—given that no aspect of this Government’s record moves us closer to having a world-class education system. Indeed, quite the reverse is the case, as after nine years in power the Government has achieved almost 4,500 fewer teachers in our schools, 140,000 fewer students in our colleges, bigger class sizes, although it promised smaller ones, student debt that has doubled, although it promised to abolish it, fewer level 3 and 4 apprenticeships than we had even 10 years ago, falling standards in literacy and numeracy, and the attainment gap between the rich and the rest remaining as bad as ever.
In next year’s budget we will see cuts in spending in real terms to higher education and further education and £500 million being slashed from council budgets—the very councils that have to deliver our school education. One simply cannot claim to be taking education forward if one is clawing back education funding year on year.
Of course, the Government founds its argument now on the OECD review, as the education secretary just did.