Education – SNP must get a grip of what really matters

Speaking in the Scottish Parliament chamber this morning, Liz Smith MSP, Scottish Conservative Education Spokesperson, said (check against delivery):

The new Cabinet Secretary for Education, when he was the old Cabinet Secretary for Education, told us, in his usual quiet, unassuming and modest way that the education brief was never easy and that he was not someone who would run away from the difficult challenges. Again, in his usual quiet, unassuming and modest way, he told us and that he would never do anything to undermine the success of Scottish education.

We should hope not, and I don't doubt that a little progress was made. For example, the Donaldson Review and hopefully the forthcoming McCormac Review, are, jointly, the most likely means of paving the way forward in terms of enhancing the professionalism of teachers across Scotland.

Both reviews were tasked with highly challenging, but nonetheless vitally important changes, which will raise attainment levels and give teachers the resources, the motivation and the assurance that they are both highly valued and one of the most essential links in the chain that will build a more successful Scotland. We supported the SNP on many of its policies to develop a better strategy for the early years – the most important years in terms of educational development - and I pay tribute to the work of Adam Ingram in this policy area.

We also supported the SNP when it came to the Schools Consultation (Scotland) Act and the need to review whether or not every clause of that legislation will actually promote a more robust and transparent approach to the decisions about whether or not to close an individual school; and we agree with the SNP, or rather, I think they agree with us, about the need to reform school management, even if, I suspect, we will continue to disagree fundamentally about what that reform should be.

But that is probably as far as it goes when it comes to any agreement, so fundamental is the difference in our respective approaches to policy.

So let me turn now to what we see as the most serious educational challenges confronting this new government - and not just those which are required to address the failure of the SNP to deliver so many of their 2007 manifesto pledges, whether these related to 18 or fewer pupils in every P1-P3 class, 2 hours per week of quality PE for every pupil, maintaining teacher numbers, dumping student debt and so the list goes on, but the other very serious challenges now confronting the educational establishment and which the Scottish Conservatives chose to highlight in our manifesto.

Let me begin with schools:

Writing in The Scotsman on Tuesday, Peter Jones said:

"Whether you do comparative studies of examination results between Scotland and elsewhere, look at the results of standardised testing carried out across numbers of countries, or listen to what employers say about the abilities of school-leaver recruits, you are forced to the conclusion that Scottish education is not the best we could have."

Now, notwithstanding the occasional hyperbole and journalistic licence with which a few commentators have debated what is happening to educational standards, the vast majority, including Peter Jones, are basing their comments on fact – indeed on exactly what parents, teaching professionals and business leaders have been warning about for some considerable time .

Scottish schools - once in the vanguard of international educational achievement and where they must be again -have now shown, in too many areas for comfort, that they are sliding down the UK and international attainment scale, and that is despite very considerable additional funds being spent on schools in recent years.

Conclusion? Either that money has not been well spent or money is not really the issue. For us, a great deal of this debate is about the inherent failure of the concordat between central and national government – the fact that there is insufficient flexibility in the system to allow headteachers, and indeed classroom teachers themselves, the freedom to decide what is in the best interests of our pupils.

Like every other member, I have heard over many weeks and months the concern amongst the teaching profession about the strait-jacket in which they find themselves when it comes to the ability of local authorities to look after their best interests.

And we have also heard the criticism of COSLA this week as it has tried to respond to this issue. Its submission to McCormac has been denounced as an attack on teachers when in fact the real reason behind what is in COSLA's submission is because it knows the current structure for managing and funding our schools is no longer sustainable.

Presiding Officer, the clarion call for radical new thinking, led by the Scottish Conservatives, is being echoed in many areas of education. The case for change has been made. Deciding the nature of that change to deliver higher standards across the board now needs to be a priority.

Now, let me turn to further and higher education and to two issues which, above all others – and there are many – will determine whether or not we can maintain the strong academic tradition of our colleges and our universities.

Quite apart from the fallacious and financially illiterate statement in the SNP manifesto that "Higher Education should be free", there is the extraordinary, on-going belief in SNP ranks that the funding gap facing Scottish universities is only £155m – a sum based on an average English fee of £7,500 and which, crucially, would not be linked to inflation.

Yet, we now know that almost 100 English universities – over 75% of all HEIs in England - have now declared that the level at which they will be setting their fees will equate to an average of £8,766, and we know that both the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Office for Fair Access, have said that English universities will be able to raise fees annually in line with inflation.

So what possible credibility can the SNP believe that it has when it persists in asking us to accept that the funding gap is only £155m? And what credibility does Mike Russell have now when those whom he accused of peddling "scare stories" about the extent of the funding gap have been proved right? What is his answer now when he sees the result of his inaction; courses being cut, budgets being squeezed, and the threat of student places being lost in the future?

And let me issue another stark warning to the Cabinet Secretary on a related issue. Don't use your failure to address the funding issue to criticise what you say is a lack of accountability within these institutions, for if there is one thing clear, there is a fear in these sectors that the Scottish Government wants to centralise control and compromise the autonomy of these institutions.

And if you don't believe me, just ask our colleges their opinion on national pay bargaining or our universities their opinion on the proposed changes to the appointment of university principals and governance more generally. For them, sustainable funding and preserving their autonomy are non-negotiable. They are the inherent principles upon which Scottish further and higher education are built and they must remain so.

Now, I don't doubt for a minute that the SNP will try to dismiss my arguments – after all, the Scottish public delivered them a majority government. And so they did, but they did not deliver a majority of votes nor did they give an unequivocal endorsement of education policy. The grumbling discontent about education policy amongst teachers, amongst heads, amongst college and university staff, amongst students, business leaders and parents is not there by coincidence. It is there because of the failure of the SNP to get a grip of what really matters.

Back to all posts