Meeting of the Parliament 08 March 2017
Okay, Presiding Officer.
I will conclude by outlining some of the measures that the Government is taking to address the issues. The Government has made available £120 million of pupil equity funding directly to schools to ensure that they can take into account young people’s circumstances in order to boost their educational attainment and possibilities. The Scottish attainment challenge fund puts £50 million directly into nine local authorities in which there are high levels of deprivation, and there is Government support in place to maintain the number of teachers at 51,000 in the schools of Scotland so that they are all able to contribute to the high-quality education of young people. That is what the Government is doing.
I am interested in having a debate about how we could strengthen education, but we have to have that debate from the standpoint of what is being achieved already in education. After a process of reform, it is performing at a high level in respect of achievement of positive destinations, and in respect of higher passes and advanced higher passes. Those are being delivered as a consequence of our efforts. We are determined to ensure that we improve that performance in a way that is consistent with the national improvement framework, and that we work with schools and local authorities to achieve that.
It would help us if the Opposition would engage in constructive debate rather than carp from the sidelines, which is exactly what Mr Gray has done today.
I move amendment S5M-04456.2, to leave out from first “notes” to end and insert:
“congratulates pupils and teachers on their achievements during the period of curriculum reform including, in 2016, the record number of Advanced Higher passes and second highest number of Higher passes ever achieved by young people; notes the most recent statistics, which show a continued increase in the positive destinations for young people leaving school in 2015-16, including a record figure of 88.7% of young people from deprived communities continuing their education, entering training or getting a job after they leave school; acknowledges that, despite this progress, there remain significant challenges in closing the attainment gap and raising standards for all; further acknowledges the wider challenges that exist within Scottish education, including budget pressures, the wider impacts of poverty on educational opportunity, teacher recruitment, teacher workload and the role of key agencies, such as the SQA and Education Scotland; recognises that Scottish education has always been a collaborative effort involving local government, the Scottish Government, key agencies, professional organisations, teachers, parents, pupils and educationalists, and believes that the recommendations made by the OECD in its 2015 review of Scottish education should form the basis for the way ahead in Scottish education.”
Motions, questions or amendments mentioned by their reference code.