Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
JIM LOGUE Education report makes for encouraging reading
Last week, Education Scotland produced the results of their inspection of North Lanarkshire Council, which took place in the spring.
The results made for extremely encouraging reading.
North Lanarkshire Council, they said, is making good progress in improving learning, raising attainment and closing the poverty-related attainment gap.
In particular, Education Scotland highlighted the leadership shown by the senior leadership team within education, youth and communities, a good use of data to plan and evaluate, strong support for families and the excellent work of the education psychology service.
All this is closing the povertyrelated attainment gap and leading to better outcomes for children and young people.
This inspection was rigorous; the inspection team spent a week meeting with staff at all levels, visiting schools, talking to children, teachers and parents.
The drive from the chief executive to take a “one council” view of children and young people’s progress and the leadership of the assistant chief executive for education, youth and communities were highlighted by inspectors.
Why does this matter? It matters because a much higher percentage of pupils in North Lanarkshire live in deprived areas than the national average.
It matters because we believe that every child should be able to achieve their potential, and that’s a priority that the whole council has to work together to achieve.
North Lanarkshire is one of nine challenge authorities across Scotland and is allocated funding from the Scottish Attainment Challenge.
Our schools also have access to Pupil Equity Funding from the Scottish Government, with head teachers making decisions on how to spend based on their experience and the needs of the pupils at their particular school.
That is how it should be; head teachers are best-placed to understand those needs. But those head teachers require support from the council.
Last week saw the Scottish Government drop their plans to introduce an education bill which would have put head teachers in a very difficult position.
They would have been responsible for finance, recruitment and procurement.
I’m pleased that the Scottish Government have climbed down from a position that no-one – not councils, not teachers, not parents – supported.
Head teachers should be able to focus on what matters most; working with their teams to improve outcomes for children.
The education bill was a solution looking for a problem. We can’t rest on our laurels and we have much more to do, but our inspection report shows clearly why the approach in North Lanarkshire works.
Every child should be able to achieve their potential and that’s a priority that the whole council has to work to achieve