Chamber
Meeting of the Parliament 09 May 2017
09 May 2017 · S5 · Meeting of the Parliament
Item of business
Literacy
I thank the cabinet secretary for early sight of his statement. The cabinet secretary says that today’s statistics confirm the case for reform. What they confirm is the case against his Government’s 10-year stewardship of education. The cabinet secretary says that he cannot turn things around overnight. His Government has had 10 years—a generation of children has passed through school while his Government was getting up to speed. How many years does he need? In those 10 years, we have lost more than 4,000 teachers from our schools; we have lost more than 1,000 support staff; spend per pupil has fallen; and class sizes have grown to be some of the biggest in the developed world.
The cabinet secretary promises clear lines of sight, new benchmarks and a new framework on the improvement hub. When will he promise us more teachers with more support and more resources to let them do the job that they love and want to do? Is that not the fundamental reform that we need now?
In the same item of business
The Deputy Presiding Officer (Linda Fabiani)
SNP
The next item of business is a statement by John Swinney on improving literacy in Scottish education. The cabinet secretary will take questions at the end of...
The Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills (John Swinney)
SNP
The results of the latest Scottish survey of literacy and numeracy were published earlier today. The publication contains data on literacy performance in pri...
The Deputy Presiding Officer
SNP
The cabinet secretary will now take questions on the issues raised in his statement. I will allow around 20 minutes for that. It would be helpful if members ...
Liz Smith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con)
Con
I am grateful for prior sight of the statement. Many parents across Scotland will see some of the statistics as nothing short of shameful, especially those ...
John Swinney
SNP
My first point is that I have come to Parliament acknowledging that the statistics need to improve. That is an acknowledgment that those issues have to be ad...
Iain Gray (East Lothian) (Lab)
Lab
I thank the cabinet secretary for early sight of his statement. The cabinet secretary says that today’s statistics confirm the case for reform. What they con...
John Swinney
SNP
When the SSLN information first pointed to a decline in performance in Scottish education, the Government acted immediately on the issues that it raised. Whe...
Jenny Gilruth (Mid Fife and Glenrothes) (SNP)
SNP
I remind members that I am the parliamentary liaison officer to the cabinet secretary. I agree with the cabinet secretary that today’s results underline the...
John Swinney
SNP
The Government is concluding its review of governance, and I will report to Parliament on that, as I promised to do. The entire education system has to focus...
Ross Thomson (North East Scotland) (Con)
Con
It is disappointing that the cabinet secretary refuses to face head on the issues in our education system. Rather than tackle the core of the problem, such a...
John Swinney
SNP
I am not sure how much attention Mr Thomson has been paying in the past few months, but if he had read the letter of guidance from the chief inspector of edu...
Ruth Maguire (Cunninghame South) (SNP)
SNP
I welcome what the cabinet secretary has said on the wider programme of reforms. Will he expand on what impact he expects investment and support in the early...
John Swinney
SNP
That is a critical part of the work that we take forward, because all the evidence says to us that the earlier we intervene to overcome the challenges that y...
Daniel Johnson (Edinburgh Southern) (Lab)
Lab
The cabinet secretary quoted the figure of 88.7 per cent of school leavers from the most deprived communities entering positive destinations. Can he confirm ...
John Swinney
SNP
Mr Johnson knows full well that the approved national statistics assessment of positive destinations includes that category; it is a measure of young people ...
Gillian Martin (Aberdeenshire East) (SNP)
SNP
There appears to be a stubborn and persistent gender gap in literacy. What action is the Scottish Government taking to address it?
John Swinney
SNP
The Government is focused on ensuring—this is one of the benefits of the flexibility that is offered through pupil equity funding—that in the classroom setti...
Ross Greer (West Scotland) (Green)
Green
As has been mentioned already, the core issue here is that there are simply far fewer staff in our schools than there were a decade ago. It will be cold comf...
John Swinney
SNP
Mr Greer may know that at my appearance at the Public Petitions Committee just a week or so ago I made very clear my view that school librarians play a very ...
Liam McArthur (Orkney Islands) (LD)
LD
I thank the cabinet secretary for early sight of his statement. The results on literacy and numeracy confirm that pupils and teachers are paying a heavy pri...
John Swinney
SNP
I think that that should be obvious to Mr McArthur. The point that I make seriously to him is this: it is not the case that the guidance that has been formu...
The Deputy Presiding Officer
SNP
We have used up our time, but I can get the last four questions in if we have quick questions and answers, please.
Clare Haughey (Rutherglen) (SNP)
SNP
Could the cabinet secretary outline examples of best practice, where local authorities and teachers are using attainment funding to improve literacy and nume...
John Swinney
SNP
I suspect that I will not be able to give a brief answer to that, but I saw one example this morning in Craigroyston primary school. Pupil equity funding is ...
Alexander Stewart (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con)
Con
The Scottish Government and First Minister have insisted that education is their main priority. However, the figures that were released today show that—
The Deputy Presiding Officer
SNP
You must come to a question, please, Mr Stewart.
Alexander Stewart
Con
The percentage of pupils in secondary 2 who are not meeting the required level in writing has more than doubled in the past four years, from 7 per cent in 20...
The Deputy Presiding Officer
SNP
Mr Stewart, please.
Alexander Stewart
Con
Can I ask the cabinet secretary—
The Deputy Presiding Officer
SNP
Yes, you can.