Pupils being failed by SNP’s incompetence

ALLOWED to begin by sharing a gentle anecdote about his first day at school, Education Secretary John Swinney might have thought he was in for an easy ride on a Radio Scotland phone-in.

But such is the cold fury of parents and teachers over the burgeoning crisis in education, he soon had his ears pinned back. The anger was palpable as home truths about teacher shortages and rockbottom morale were put to him.

A teacher of 39 years’ standing cut through his waffle about ‘ambitious hopes’ for education, telling him that excessive pressure, heavy workloads and a failure to agree a pay deal for teachers had led to a ‘haemorrhaging of staff’.

Parents painted a grim picture of staff shortages leaving teachers having to cover for colleagues in subjects that are not their speciality.

Most troubling of all is that the SNP has, after more than a decade in sole charge of schooling, supposedly now made education a priority. Nicola Sturgeon even went as far as declaring her administration should be judged on education.

Mr Swinney was himself parachuted in at the behest of Miss Sturgeon as a big brain to deliver results after a series of lacklustre ministers stood idle as the rot set in.

He has been in post since May 2016, yet yesterday sounded like the new boy still getting to grips with the job, grudgingly admitting there were ‘challenges’ in schools.

Eight hundred teacher vacancies is quite a challenge, all right, as is plunging morale in the profession – evidenced by the numbers of teachers seeking to quit.

Last week’s exam results highlighted a collapse in the number of young Scots passing exams in modern languages, a disaster in a global jobs environment. Slipping numeracy and literacy skills are a disgrace.

Mr Swinney cuts an unconvincing figure with little grasp of both the scale of the problems in education or of the urgent need for action as pupils’ life chances are being damaged.

There will indeed be a judgment on the SNP on education – a harsh one.