Michael Marra, Nicola Sturgeon and John Swinney.
by BILL HEANEY
The poorest pupils in Scotland are three and a half years behind their more affluent peers in maths and science, new analysis of the PISA results has shown.
The most deprived pupils are also two and a half years behind the richest when it comes to reading.
In 2015 the SNP government – then led by Nicola Sturgeon – claimed that closing the attainment gap between rich and poor would be its top priority.
Current First Minister John Swinney was appointed Education Secretary at the time to deliver it.
Any reduction in the attainment gap in PISA figures has been substantially driven by a reduction in performance of the most advantaged children, rather than increased performance of the most deprived, according to analysis by Professor Lindsay Paterson.
It comes as Holyrood is expected to see a fresh focus on education following the election of Michael Marra as Scottish Labour leader.
The former university economist and academic is expected to make education policy a centrepiece of his leadership.
Scottish Labour leader Michael Marra said: “In 2015 Nicola Sturgeon said closing the attainment gap between the richest and the poorest pupils was her top priority and appointed John Swinney to do it.
“Making that gap a priority is the right thing to do, and it is a tragedy that our poorest pupils are years behind their peers. That’s bad for those pupils and those families today, and bad for Scotland in the long run.
“Half the Scottish cabinet, including the First Minister himself, have served as Education Secretary. We have a former teacher as Deputy First Minister, yet around Holyrood there has been a conspiracy of silence on education.
“The PISA results should sting the pride of any patriotic Scottish politician, and it should spur us into action.
“In Germany, the first PISA scores led to an emergency response from the government and a series of national reforms. In Scotland, years of decline have led to barely a shrug of the shoulders from ministers.
“The most important investment any government can make is in its people, starting with giving our young people the opportunity to have a fair go in life.
“That’s why we need to get education back at the heart of Scottish politics and make our system world-leading again.”
Socio-economic impact
|
Socioeconomic background |
Reading |
Maths |
Science |
|
Most disadvantaged quarter |
470 |
438 |
462 |
|
Second quarter |
484 |
456 |
482 |
|
Third quarter |
503 |
485 |
510 |
|
Most advantaged quarter |
520 |
508 |
534 |
|
Gap: most advantaged – most disadvantaged |
50 |
70 |
72 |
The 2025 results show a substantial socioeconomic gap in Scotland. Pupils in the most disadvantaged quarter score around 50 points lower than the most advantaged in reading, 70 points lower in maths, and around 72 points lower in science. Twenty-points is equivalent to one year of learning in established analysis practices.
That is equivalent to roughly two-and-a-half years of equivalent learning in reading and around three-and-a-half years in maths and science.
Germany’s 2001 “PISA shock”
When the first OECD PISA results were published in December 2001, they caused a major political and public reaction in Germany which became known as the “PISA shock”.
The results challenged widespread confidence in Germany’s education system. German 15-year-olds scored 484 in reading, 490 in maths and 487 in science, compared with an OECD average of 500 in each area. The results also exposed a particularly strong link between pupils’ social background and educational achievement. OECD analysis found Germany had one of the strongest relationships between socio-economic background and reading performance among participating countries.
What Germany said
The political response was strikingly direct. Germany’s education ministers said that the empirical evidence had to be “taken seriously” and immediately identified areas in which the education system needed to change. The federal government and the Länder (German states) treated the results as evidence of weaknesses which required action, rather than principally questioning PISA as a measure.
Chancellor Gerhard Schröder subsequently described education as a “national task” requiring a collective effort and said Germany needed to recognise and correct developments which had gone wrong. He explicitly contrasted Germany with higher-performing countries which had reformed their education systems earlier.
What Germany did
Within days of publication, Germany’s state education ministers agreed seven priority areas for reform. They included improving language development before children started school, strengthening literacy, maths and science, providing additional support for disadvantaged pupils and children from migrant backgrounds, improving teacher expertise, expanding all-day schooling, and introducing binding educational standards and evaluation of outcomes.
That was followed by substantial structural reform. Education standards were introduced in key subjects from 2003 and 2004, alongside systems for assessing whether those standards were being achieved. Germany also strengthened national education reporting and continued participating in international comparisons so that performance could be independently monitored.