Nicola Sturgeon ‘ignoring’ experts on subject choice

Nicola Sturgeon came under fire yesterday for failing to listen to teachers, parents and pupils on the narrowing of exam subject choice.

She was accused of ignoring “mounting evidence” that the S cottish Government is l i mi t i n g s u b j e c t c h o i c e f o r youngsters.

At First Minister’s Questions interim Tor y leader Jackson Carlaw raised the issue after report this week from Reform Scotland showed that pupils in their four th year used to study eight subjects, but that was now being reduced to six.

He said the Curriculum for E x c e l l e n c e w a s d a m a g i n g young p eople’s future pros - pects and risked widening the attainment gap and added: “There is mounting evidence that pupils in s4 are experiencing a subject choice crisis – yet Nicola Sturgeon still refuses to accept this is a problem.

“S cotland was once famed a r o u n d t h e w o r l d f o r t h e breadth of our education. But now, Curriculum for Excell e n c e i s n a r r o w i n g h o r i - zons. Breadth as well as depth matters as do the choices available. We’ve been told the issue is Curriculum for Excellent and the Scottish Government is redrafting guidance again - third time lucky perhaps.

“D e s p i t e t h e b e s t e f f o r t s of our teachers and the best efforts of our pupils, a whole generation is being let down on her watch. This is a massive failure of her government.”

B u t Ms S t u rg e o n s a i d t h e Reform S cotland study only looked at s4 while the senior phase of school covered three years. “What matters are the q u a l i f i c a t i o n s a n d aw a r d s people leave school with, not just those they study at s4,” she said.

“We see the p ercentage of pupils getting qualifications at National 5 level is up and at Highers it is up. In 2009 the per cent of pupils getting five Highers or more was 22 per cent - last year that was more than 30 per cent. We have a record number of school leavers in higher education. The outcomes do not bear out Jackson Carlaw’s analysis.”

Johann Lamont, a former teacher, said the First Minister needed to listen to teachers, parents and to the evidence from the experts telling us currently the system is more unequal than it was before.

Ms Sturgeon said: “The evidence says that more young people are leaving school with qualifications, with five Highers or more and going i n to positive destinations including university. I haven’t heard any memb er of the opp osition explain how that aligns w i t h t h e a n a l y s i s t h e y ’ r e putting forward.”