Meeting of the Parliament 20 December 2022
Last week, a plethora of annual statistics was released about Scotland’s education system. I believe that those statistics ought to have been a focus of the business of the Parliament last week, because they could cause us to sit up and take notice. We should have had the opportunity to have heard from the cabinet secretary last week; however, we did not. I tried every way that I knew to get that issue into the Parliament’s Business Bulletin, but I was unsuccessful.
The minister has just partly answered a topical question about some of the evidence that was delivered through the statistical release—namely, that we have fewer teachers and more pupils and therefore greater class sizes. On top of that, as a consequence of the budget, councils are talking about having shorter lesson periods, shorter school days and shorter school weeks, and there is the question of the diminishing range of subject choices that are available to our young people who are in secondary schools. As I have already mentioned, class sizes are rising as pupil-teacher ratios are ditched—in part for financial expediency, but largely because of Scottish Government neglect. As has been mentioned, there is also grave concern among teachers about a number of issues, not least the level of classroom violence that they encounter. Teachers ought not to have to worry about their safety in the classroom.
If the Parliament is not focused on the quality of our children’s education and the clear issues that we are facing in the education system, especially in the aftermath of the pandemic, then all I can say is that we ought to be. That is why I want a ministerial statement to be added to chamber business tomorrow, so that the Government, represented by the cabinet secretary or the minister, can come to the Parliament and be scrutinised about the data that we are now in possession of: the decline in the number of teachers in our schools, as well as other data that has been released through the summary statistics for schools in Scotland 2022.
Sadly, the sum total of the data does not make for pretty reading. That might explain why the Scottish Government has been so reluctant to come to the chamber to make a statement. It might also explain why the Scottish Government has removed Scotland from international league tables for education. I am afraid that those league tables and the limited data available to us would undoubtedly show that the SNP has mismanaged our education system and that there is a need for greater scrutiny of this policy area—perhaps more than any other.
I worry that there is worse to come, because of the budget and the commentary in the media—of which there has been plenty—about the consequences that flow from it. There will be another round of real-terms cuts to local government, which will undoubtedly have an impact on the education system, which is a big ticket item for every local authority. There will also be an impact on extracurricular activities, which add so much to children’s experience at school.
Scottish education used to be the envy of the world. However, the limited data that is available to us shows us that there have been 15 years of mismanagement at the hands of the Scottish Government. Many of us in the Parliament believe that Scotland’s children and young people deserve better.
That is why it is imperative that the SNP Government makes a statement about the curriculum for excellence data. That should happen tomorrow, so that we can begin a more serious look at those statistics in the context of the work of the Parliament. Fundamentally, that is why the people of Scotland elect us.
I move amendment S6M-07320.4, to insert after “3.15 pm Portfolio Questions: Rural Affairs and Islands; Health and Social Care; Social Justice, Housing and Local Government”:
“followed by Ministerial Statement: Curriculum for Excellence Achievement Statistics”.
Motions, questions or amendments mentioned by their reference code.