LABOUR AND LIBDEM MSPS SANGSTER AND DUNLOP RESPOND TO EMPOWERING SCHOOLS REPORT

by BILL HEANEY 

Scottish Labour has warned against “rushed” reforms being “snuck in through the back door” as it calls for education to be a “top priority for this parliament”. 

This comes in response to a report published today by the Scottish Government titled “Shaping the Future: Strengthening Scotland’s education system through empowered schools”. 

The report recommends significant reform to take place alongside the local authority reform being introduced over the next three months – and acknowledges that “If everything stays as it is, eradicating the poverty-related attainment gap will at best take multiple generations to achieve.” 

Scottish Labour Education spokesperson Katherine Sangster, right, said: “This report is an admission of failure of the twenty-year record of the SNP on education. 

“We have been here before with John Swinney. His failed Regional Collaborative policy was another example of the SNP’s approach to education. It must set out how any changes will be different to that project and how it will actually improve the standards of Scottish education and increase opportunities for young people.

“Scottish Labour welcomes that the Scottish Government has acknowledged the need for significant reform in education, the declining performance of Scottish education and the need for much better data in the system. We must recognise that Scotland’s issues in education are curricular. 

“We have been calling for faster action on the poverty-related attainment gap – acknowledgement in the report that the current pace is not good enough is welcome, but the Cabinet Secretary still seems in denial. 

“Education should be an absolute top priority for this Parliament and Scottish Labour is committed to putting education back at the heart of Scottish politics and to making Scottish education the best in the world again. 

“Reforms as big as these take more than three months from conception to delivery. There must be coherence across public service reform, and at the moment the unanswered questions are only increasing. 

“Fundamentally changing where decisions are made about education and who has control over our schools requires thoughtful intervention and proper consultation with councils, teachers, learners and their families. It can’t be rushed or snuck in through the back door – it needs to be done meaningfully and completely focused on improving outcomes for our young people.”

Responding to the Scottish Government publishing a new report that sets out proposed changes to the education system, Scottish Liberal Democrat children and young people spokesperson Duncan Dunlop MSP, pictured left, said: “We will be looking very closely at these proposals, but this is all coming too late in the day from a government that once said education was their defining mission. Instead, it has become their defining failure.

“The government will need to explain how exactly these plans will fix the current crisis in education. Pupils with additional support needs are not having their needs met, too many children are frequently absent, and classrooms are more violent than ever before.

“Scottish Liberal Democrats want to give real power to schools, head teachers and communities because they know what pupils in their area need best. We also want to end the use of short-term and zero hours contracts for teachers, and recruit 2,000 more pupil support assistants so that children who need extra help are able to receive it.

“All of this is how we can give every child the best start in life and get Scottish education back to its best.”

Top-of-page picture: Vale of Leven Academy pupils and teachers.