Smith: Time for SNP to ditch concordat and apologise for four years of failure on education

The latest schools statistics have been published, showing that the SNP Government has completely failed to deliver on its promises.

Liz Smith MSP, Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Education & Lifelong Learning, said:

"The SNP came in to office on the back of a very specific manifesto commitment- 18 or fewer pupils in all Primary 1-3 classes. It was first watered down to only Primary 1 classes and then it was further watered down to a 20% 'average' figure.

"Today's published statistics show the real extent of the SNP's failure. Not only is it very clear that some local authorities have made virtually no progress but there is a wide variation within different local authorities. In a few cases, progress any progress has actually been reversed.

"Worse still for the SNP, the pupil-teacher ratio – which actually matters much more in educational terms – has been rising too as, of course, have teacher unemployment levels. This is no way to run our schools. The concordat between central government and local authorities is unworkable and it is time to give headteachers the autonomy they want.

"The SNP's election pledges are in tatters and they should apologise to every parent, teacher and pupil."

Teacher pupil ratio has increased since the SNP took power in 2007 from 12.9% (2007) to 13.3% (2010)

9 of 32 local authorities (28%) are missing the SNP target of classes of size 18 or fewer or in two teacher classes with a pupil teacher ratio of 18 or less in P1 to P3.

They are:

Aberdeen City (11.9%)

Aberdeenshire (12.6%)

East Lothian (8.9%)

Edinburgh (16.5%)

Falkirk (12.6%)

Glasgow (9.8%)

Midlothian (9.2%)

North Lanarkshire (10.1%)

West Lothian (19.8%)

The situation has got worse rather than better in 4 local authorities since 2007: Aberdeenshire, Glasgow, North Lanarkshire, and Shetland Islands

Back to all posts