30 Jan 2020
The SNP’s record on education is “one of unmitigated and continuing failure” after more problems were revealed with school performance, the Scottish Conservatives have said.
At First Minister’s Questions today, Jackson Carlaw challenged Nicola Sturgeon on why standards were falling despite education supposedly being an SNP government priority.
It was reported this morning that the pass rate in 32 of 46 Higher subjects has dropped since the introduction of Curriculum for Excellence in 2015.
And the Scottish Government’s performance on closing the attainment gap has also come under fire this week, after it emerged ministers were way off course on their own targets for helping poorer pupils.
Despite that, the First Minister claimed education standards were “heading in the right direction” and critics of SNP performance were merely “talking down education”.
Scottish Conservative leader Jackson Carlaw said:
“Nicola Sturgeon expects pupils, parents and teachers to keep listening to her same lines about how education is her government’s top priority.
“But the evidence shows that record is one of unmitigated and continuing failure.
“It’s clear that the First Minister has many priorities, but not one of them is raising the standard of education in our schools.
“There’s been next to no progress in closing the attainment gap in primary and secondary school when it comes to the key issues of numeracy and literacy.
“And now we learn, thanks to the botched introduction of the SNP’s Curriculum for Excellence, pass rates in the majority of Higher subjects are on the slide.
“That’s the very definition of failure – it’s as simple as that.”
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