by BILL HEANEY
Scottish Labour has unveiled a plan for greater transparency of data around education ‘to stop the SNP marking their own homework ‘.
The party said greater transparency in education data was an ‘essential first step’ in making Scotland’s education system world-class again.
Labour’s plan includes:
· Reintroduce the Scottish Survey of Literacy and Numeracy (SSLN)
· Measure the experience of school, not just exam results
· A new longitudinal study tracking the experience of kids through school and into the workplace over years
· Standardise definitions and reporting across Scotland
· A culture of transparent data, with a new Scottish Education Data dashboard
It comes as one of the few truly independent measurements of Scottish education data – the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) – saw Scotland attain its poorest set of results since it joined the study in 2000
“But to get there, we need to know where we are, and that means a radical overhaul in data transparency in the education system, and an end to politicians marking their own homework on these things. This would be an essential first step in delivering a better education system for Scotland
“The reason why PISA is such a gut punch for Scottish education is that it is one of the few genuinely impartial and external measurements we are part of.
“That we have rejoined other international studies is a welcome step forward; however, rather than just fixing previous mistakes, we need an honest assessment of what is and what isn’t working in our system – and only regular, transparent and independent data will help us do that.
“We can’t allow a culture where ministers mark their own homework to continue; it’s letting down teachers, parents and most importantly of all, pupils.”
Labour’s Education data plan is as follows –
1. Reintroduce the Scottish Survey of Literacy and Numeracy (SSLN)
SSLN provided a nationally representative, independently assessed measure of literacy and numeracy at key stages, allowing Scotland to track standards over time and examine gaps by deprivation and other pupil characteristics.
The survey was discontinued after its final 2016 round, with Achievement of Curriculum for Excellence Levels and, subsequently, the Scottish National Standardised Assessments becoming the main domestic sources of attainment information.
The result has been the loss of a regular, objective Scottish survey specifically designed to measure changes in national literacy and numeracy standards over time, leaving greater reliance on teacher-judgement data and international surveys that operate less frequently and at different stages.
This can be alongside the ACEL publications, and can also act as a measure of quality assurance on that illustrative subjective data.
2. Measure the experience of school, not just exam results
Collect consistent national evidence on what pupils are taught and what they experience in school, including curriculum breadth, subject choice, teaching methods, attendance, behaviour, pastoral and ASN support, relationships and wellbeing.
Linking this information to pupil progress would give Scotland a much clearer picture of where barriers to learning and opportunity are emerging, how school experiences relate to attainment and wider outcomes, and what approaches are actually improving learning, rather than relying on exam results or international studies alone.
3. A new longitudinal study
Establish a new Scottish longitudinal education study, following representative cohorts of pupils from Primary 1 through school and, where possible, into their early twenties. The study would track attainment alongside pupils’ family circumstances, curriculum experience, attendance, behaviour, wellbeing and aspirations, giving Scotland a much stronger evidence base on how educational outcomes develop over time and where inequalities emerge.
4. Standardise definitions and reporting across Scotland
Introduce a single national data standard for Scottish education, with common definitions, coding and reporting requirements across all 32 local authorities. This should include areas such as attendance and absence codes, persistent absence, behaviour incidents, exclusions, Additional Support Needs and workforce data, so that the same issue is recorded in the same way everywhere. A national data dictionary and clear reporting guidance would make local and national comparisons more reliable, give a clearer picture of the scale of problems and allow policy to be evaluated against consistent evidence rather than different recording practices. This would address the wider problem of fragmented and inconsistent education data identified across the current system.
5. A culture of transparent data
Create a new integrated Scottish Education Data Dashboard, bringing together key information on attainment, attendance, behaviour, Additional Support Needs, curriculum breadth, staffing, qualifications and post-school destinations in one accessible place.
Data should be published consistently, with clear national and local trends, breakdowns by deprivation and other relevant characteristics, and downloadable underlying datasets, so that parents, practitioners, researchers and Parliament can see where standards are improving, where inequalities persist and whether reform is working.