Meeting of the Parliament 18 May 2022
The Government wants Scotland to be the best place for children to grow up in, and it wants all children—regardless of their background—to flourish and achieve their potential. However, we know that poverty is a major barrier to that, which is why our commitment to the Scottish attainment challenge remains unwavering. That could not be more evident than it is through our increased investment of £1 billion in the attainment Scotland fund to tackle the poverty-related attainment gap and to support education recovery.
Before the pandemic, we were making progress in tacking that gap. The year-on-year trend for curriculum for excellence levels data was positive. The gap for primary school pupils was narrower for both literacy and numeracy, and on our Scottish credit and qualifications framework—SCQF—level 5 or better and SCQF level 6 or better, the attainment gaps are now at their lowest level since consistent records began in 2009-10.
Indeed, only yesterday we published statistics that show that the number of Scottish students from deprived areas who are progressing to Scottish universities is at an all-time high. That demonstrates progress towards our goal that, by 2030, 20 per cent of students who enter higher education will come from our most disadvantaged communities.
However, we know that there is more to do, and that tackling the poverty-related attainment gap will take more work and endeavour. I say that very much in the knowledge that the challenge is now more pronounced, with evidence highlighting the disproportionate impact of the pandemic on children and young people who are impacted by poverty. That sits alongside the challenges of the cost of living crisis that the same children and their families will face.
In recognising the progress that has been made to date and the scope to make progress on the impact of the pandemic, we have worked tirelessly with stakeholders to refresh the attainment challenge. We have a new mission, which is
“to use education to improve outcomes for children and young people impacted by poverty, with a focus on tackling the poverty-related attainment gap.”
The mission acknowledges that in order to tackle child poverty we need to break the cycle of poverty.
The Scottish attainment challenge will continue to empower headteachers, who know their pupils and communities best, to invest more than £520 million in pupil equity funding during the current session of Parliament to support children and young people who need it most, and to do so with the certainty that comes from confirmation of allocations for the next four years.
Alongside that, we know that poverty impacts children and young people across Scotland. That is why, for the first time, we are distributing strategic equity funding to all 32 local authorities, which will enable them to take strategic approaches through working in synergy with headteachers and others to support children and young people. As is the case for PEF, local authorities can develop long-term plans with their allocations, which are now confirmed for the next few years.
Members rose.