Performance does not reflect school spending
More is spent on school pupils per head in Scotland than any other UK nation – but the higher spend does “not automatically translate” into better educational outcomes, a report has warned.
Core school spending per pupil is expected to be highest in Scotland – at more than £7,500 – in the current academic year, according to a study from the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS).
In England, the per capita spend is just £6,700 and even lower in Wales and Northern Ireland, where spending is £6,600 and £6,400 respectively.
However, experts said Scotland’s higher spend does “not automatically translate” into better education, pointing to declining numeracy and science scores compared to the OECD average in recent years.
The report said spending per pupil fell by 7 per cent in real terms between 2009/10 and 2014/15, in line with a decline in school spending across the UK. However, in contrast to other nations, there has since been a big recovery in spending per pupil.
Luke Sibieta, IFS research fellow and author, said: "Over the last decade, there were cuts to school spending per pupil right across the UK.
"In Scotland, large recent increases mean that spending has more than recovered and core spending per pupil is now likely to be over £800 higher than in the rest of the UK.
"Despite recent increases, spending per pupil in England, Wales and Northern Ireland is still close to or just below levels seen a decade earlier.
"However, it is important to remember higher spending need not automatically translate into better educational outcomes. Indeed, international comparisons of test scores suggest numeracy and science scores were declining in high-spending Scotland relative to the OECD average up to 2018. It remains to be seen whether extra spending in Scotland since 2018 will arrest this trend.”
The OECD’S Pisa report, which measures the performance of 600,000 15-yearolds worldwide, found in 2019 that Scotland's performance in reading improved, but it declined in maths and science.
The organisation recently published a wide ranging investigation into Scotland’s education system, where it warned that reform was needed of Scotland’s assessment model, saying the existing system was too exams-focused.
The spending recovery in Scotland was partially driven by the large increases in teacher pay north of the border in 2018 and 2019, as well as extra Covid spending of more than £200
million on mitigation measures for education and recovery.
Yet the study said even after making“plausible adjustments”, core spending per pupil in Scotland in 2021/22 was still likely to be over 6 percent higher than in 2009/10 and more than £800 higher than in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The report said school spending across Scotland would also have been potentially boosted as a result of extra funding through the Barnett formula to reflect the grant to schools in England for the cost of higher employer contributions to the Teachers’ Pension Scheme.