Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 17 February 2021
There is a lot to be proud of in Scottish education. It has been alarming to see what teachers and learners have had to endure during the pandemic, and let us not forget the challenges for parents and family life. It has also been inspiring to see what teachers and learners have achieved. Iain Gray rightly referred to their “heroic” efforts. To say that teachers have stepped up does not do it justice. For many of them, going “above and beyond”, as Oliver Mundell put it, was a habit that they were already accustomed to. Whatever the ask and whatever the call, teachers have worked flat out to give pupils the best education possible.
In that light, the failing national educational infrastructure has become all the more clear. When they were needed most, both of the education secretary’s quangos left teachers, pupils and parents in the lurch.
Without question, children and young people should be at the top of the priority list, yet, minutes after the publication of last year’s exam results, the Scottish Government’s own documents established that pupils from poorer areas were penalised the most. The week before, the SQA told the education secretary about those outcomes. No minutes were taken at the meeting, but we know how it ended. There was no counterbalance or challenge. Somehow, results that actively and unfairly downgraded pupils based simply on the school that they went to were agreed to as acceptable. That was a critical meeting—a chance to pull the plug—but the SQA pressed publish. It is hard to think about the distress that pupils, parents and teachers experienced as a result. Incredibly, on reflection, the SQA seemed to think that, in fact, its was a job well done, because it had completed the ministerial brief and delivered what the education secretary asked for.
In the short review that followed, Professor Mark Priestley found a perception that the organisation was
“remote”
and
“resistant to working with stakeholders.”
He also found that
“There has been an erosion of trust/confidence in SQA amongst teachers and young people”.
I asked Professor Priestley whether he thought that fulfilling the ministerial brief was the SQA’s primary aim, and he answered yes. There is no doubt that the SQA would prefer to appease ministers and keep the cosy arrangement going than serve the interests of Scotland’s learners.
Ross Greer and Liz Smith referred to previous parliamentary debates, evidence that was taken by the Education and Skills Committee in 2016-17 and the concerns at that time about agency accountability. Education Scotland has been missing throughout, and Scottish Liberal Democrats have long been concerned about its ability to do the job that it has been set. There is a fundamental conflict of interest at its heart. Education Scotland sets the Scottish Government’s education policy at the same time as holding it accountable. We are not the only ones who do not trust what is going on. Only 28 per cent of Education Scotland’s employees said that they have confidence in its leadership. Scottish Liberal Democrat research has revealed that Education Scotland has ministerial approval to meddle with the report that is supposed to guide improvement and change.
These agencies have been remote and unaccountable for too long. That must change. As Daniel Johnson said, there must be transparency in the system. Scotland’s children and young people deserve better. They deserve the highest possible standard of education so that they can all reach their full potential.