Improving our schools

After years of SNP control, Scotland’s schools are going in the wrong direction.

Literacy and numeracy standards have fallen, the gap between the richest and poorest pupils is far too wide, and more parents are losing confidence in the system.

Teachers are bogged down in paperwork, classrooms are more disruptive, and too many young people are leaving school without the basic skills they need for work or further study.

The Scottish Conservatives would restore high standards, back teachers and put knowledge back at the heart of the classroom.

Our plan to improve our schools👇

Raising standards in Scottish Schools

Return to knowledge-based learning in Scottish schools with a new Curriculum for Aspiration, focused on the acquisition of knowledge.

Increase literacy levels, by mandating the use of synthetic phonics at primary school level to improve children’s reading skills.

Introduce literacy and numeracy check-ins for students in Primary 1, Primary 4, and Secondary 1, which would check each pupil’s progress on achieving certain levels of literacy and numeracy, including their reading age and other key skills, to ensure that no pupil leaves school without being able to read or do basic maths.

Abolish Education Scotland, to prevent the issuing of vague guidance and free up resources that would be better deployed raising school standards. The budget for this quango would be reallocated to deliver improved learning outcomes for pupils.

Backing teachers and restoring discipline

Provide teachers with greater freedom to teach, by cutting red tape in schools to reduce the amount of paperwork teachers must do. This will provide teachers with greater freedom to educate and ensure that their valuable time is not wasted by bureaucracy. We would also explore reducing contact hours for teachers from 22.5 hours to 20 hours a week and making greater use of digital technology to reduce admin and allow more focus to be given to lesson preparation and marking.

Restore discipline to schools, by giving headteachers the explicit authority to exclude pupils as a disciplinary measure, to support safe, orderly and effective learning environments.This would replace the current system in which this power is held by local authorities.

Support a national ban on mobile phones in schools, by introducing a Schools (Phone Ban) Bill that would ban mobile phones in schools and ensure that pupils are not distracted from their learning.

Empowering headteachers and reforming school governance

Empower headteachers, by transferring powers from local authorities to give headteachers greater oversight of school budgets, along with the hiring and firing of staff within their schools.

Give schools the ability to opt out of local authority control with their agreement, and become grant-aided schools, like Jordanhill School in Glasgow. These schools would be directly funded by the Scottish Government, rather than local authorities and would have greater freedoms on how they teach the curriculum, set the structure of their school days and give parents more say over the overall learning direction of the school.

Support rural schools, by exploring options to allow for sustainable rural education and support for communities in rural areas to be empowered to ensure that rural schools can remain open if they are under threat of closure.

Supporting pupils and parents

Give all school children access to residential outdoor education, ensuring that pupils can benefit from Liz Smith MSP’s Schools (Residential Outdoor Education) (Scotland) Bill and experience at least four nights and five days of residential outdoor education during their school career.

Undertake a national review of the mainstreaming of Additional Support Needs pupils within schools, to assess whether this is the best approach for ASN pupils and to ensure that their learning needs are met.

Create new partnerships between schools and colleges to allow pupils who are disengaged from school to go to college or start an apprenticeship aged 14 or 15. This would ensure that pupils who do not perform best in traditional educational pathways can either go on to an apprenticeship or college.

Reverse the SNP’s introduction of business rates and Labour’s VAT on independent schools, so that parents are not punished for sending their children to an independent school and to reduce pressure on state schools.

Support parents and carers, by issuing fresh guidance that encourages local authorities to provide Triple P programmes for parents and carers, and work with the schools to ensure that the effects of positive parenting are carried through into the classroom.