With results day 2022 having come and gone, now would be a good time to return to the 2015 speech so often cited by journalists and politicians, alike, whereby the First Minister herself claimed that education was her ‘defining mission’ and that she should be judged by her record on this very issue.
So, I’ll do exactly as she set out.
After several years of disruption to schooling due to lockdown restrictions, classrooms finally returned to normal this year. Instead of grades being determined by teacher judgement as in the previous two years, this year’s pupils sat exams for the first time since 2019.
While pass rates were slightly up compared to the last time pupils sat exams in 2019, it would be naïve to consider this a win for Scotland’s education system – the SQA had already made clear that exams would be marked more leniently this year in light of the disruption caused by two periods of lockdown.
Such leniency is only appropriate and fair. It has undoubtedly been an incredibly challenging few years for pupils, teachers, and support staff.
However, it is nevertheless important to call out the SNP’s spin machine when it’s busy exploiting the administrative quagmire that Scotland’s education system is becoming under this SNP Government.
Despite the hugely positive picture the SNP have tried to paint regarding this year’s results, statistics from the SQA show that the attainment gap – the percentage point gap between the most and least deprived pupils in the country – has widened once again.
These statistics show that the gap between the most-deprived and least-deprived pupils obtaining A grades is a massive 23.2 per cent. This is a bigger gap than in any of the previous four years. And for many, this gap represents the difference between securing a university / college place and not.
There has also been a notable decline in the uptake of Modern Languages, Maths, and some sciences at Higher level in this year’s SQA examinations.
Both are extremely concerning for Scotland’s future economy.
Most notably Modern Languages as a subject choice has reportedly been in decline for the previous 5 years – with many experts warning this could have a negative impact on the economy, especially in relation to trade.
Maths, Higher Chemistry and Biology are also in decline from last year. I find this particularly concerning. I have repeatedly called on the Scottish Government to do more to remove the obstacles that continue to hinder young people’s advancement into STEM-related subjects.
The disruption caused by several periods of lockdown has disproportionately impacted pupils from poorer backgrounds.
Time and time again, the Scottish Conservatives urged the SNP to implement catch-up measures, such as a national tutoring programme to help those pupils most at risk of falling behind.
But as always, the SNP put political grievances above educating our young people.
The SNP have taken their eye off the ball – if it was ever on it – and they have repeatedly failed to make sure that young people from poorer backgrounds are given every opportunity to succeed, and this year is no different.
I hope that going forward, pupils will see far less disruption to the school year – but between plans to scrap the SQA, and the likelihood it its archaic bones will remain, mired in even more layers of bureaucracy – this outcome seems unlikely.