Scots kids falling behind with reading
SCOTTISH pupils are lagging behind other UK nations when it comes to improvements in reading, a new study has indicated.
Students in Northern Ireland led the way ahead of England, with Scotland and Wales following behind.
Scottish Labour said the findings represented another “disappointing report” on literacy north of the border.
It comes after Scotland’s schools recorded their worst-ever performance in an international survey of pupils which was published last year.
Scores for maths, reading and science all declined in the Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) figures.
The latest research, conducted by Keith Topping, professor of education at the University of Dundee, covers about 850,000 pupils across the UK in schools which use Renaissance’s literacy assessment tools.
The results were calcu- lated by ranking student improvement from 1 to 100, with an average improvement score of 50.
Prof Topping said more investigation was needed into why Scotland had recorded “relatively low” reading performance.
Scottish Labour education spokesman Iain Gray said: “What is most damning in this report is that for all Nicola Sturgeon’s claims that education is her ‘defining mission’, we are trailing behind other parts of the UK in addressing the issue.”
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “As well as clarity about the standards expected in our classrooms and fully embedding literacy skills across the curriculum, we are providing £750 million over the lifetime of this parliament, through the Scottish Attainment Challenge, targeted at those children and young people most in need, to close the poverty-related attainment gap.”