Meeting of the Parliament 04 March 2026 [Draft]
That is something that comes up regularly. Although I understand the Government’s position on that, we are talking about educational attainment and the situation in our schools. We must realise that our schools have to teach everybody, and that everybody needs the same standard of education, but they are not getting that from the Government.
It is important that I return to the point that behind every percentage point is lost potential—a child who has been told, directly or indirectly, that their future is limited by where they live or by the circumstances in which they grow up. That is an appalling situation.
I have listened today—and, indeed, every day—to the Scottish Government’s education team focusing, as even the Government’s amendment to the motion does, on the various sums of money that the Government has invested in Scotland’s schools rather than on the outcomes of that investment. Throwing money at a problem only works for so long. It is fundamental that we address the roots of the issues head on.
Over the past 19 years, none of the SNP Government’s budgeted spend has shifted the dial. In recent years, more than 73,000 pupils have had attendance rates below 50 per cent. In other words, 73,000 pupils have checked out of Scottish education and the hope that comes with it. Those are not just numbers; they are children. Scotland’s programme for international student assessment scores in maths and science are at record lows.
Violent incidents in classrooms have led thousands of teachers to seek medical treatment, yet there is little in the way of discipline for pupils’ actions, so many teachers face worse behaviour every day. When teachers are attacked and assaulted in our classrooms, learning and consistency suffer and discipline is forgotten. Not only should teachers not be forced to work in such conditions, hard-working and diligent pupils also suffer from the disruption. The worst effect of that is on children from deprived areas and the toughest backgrounds, who rely most on school for stability because their home life is not as secure. This Government is letting them down.
Even respected experts now admit the truth. Professor John McKendrick has said that the Scottish Government cannot claim significant progress in closing the gap. Nicola Sturgeon herself has called the failure to close the gap one of her biggest regrets.
The Scottish Conservatives believe that every child, no matter their background, deserves a chance to succeed. We believe that children should be children; that classrooms are places of safety and equality; that actions should have consequences; that funding should be well targeted and carefully monitored; that children should be taught literacy and numeracy from the outset; and that people should be held truly accountable for results. Those principles are all common sense.
Closing the attainment gap should not have been just an election slogan, like so many of the elections slogans that we hear now, or a piecrust promise to be easily made and easily broken. It should have been a real promise to Scotland’s children, and in that regard this SNP Government has been found wanting.