Longer our kids spend in school, the MORE they lag behind
Education system ‘on life support’
SCOTLAND’S education system is ‘on life support’ after its failures were laid bare in a devastating report showing pupils lag further behind their UK peers the longer they spend at school.
Children north of the Border have the highest scores for cognitive skills aged three – but their literacy and numeracy are worst of all by the time they reach 15.
The analysis by think tank the Education Policy Institute found Scotland was being outstripped across all income groups, but particularly among the most deprived. And its authors suggest the problem is getting worse.
Last night, Chris McGovern, chairman of the Campaign for Real Education, said: ‘This is a red alert for Scotland. What was once a proud and successful educational system is now in a critical state. It is on life support.
‘There needs to be a return to measuring achievement in schools on a regular
‘Tumbling down the international rankings’
basis so under-performance and failure can be diagnosed at an early stage.
‘This report is a damning indictment and the Scottish Government cannot go on simply ignoring its own failings.’
Scotland’s education system has been performing consistently badly in comparison with other countries.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) publishes updates every three years.
They show pupils’ attainment in maths and science has fallen off dramatically since 2006.
However, PISA is only a snapshot of 15-year-old pupils whereas the latest report, The Evolution Of Cognitive Skills During Childhood Across The UK, seeks to paint a more detailed picture of children’s educational developmen.
It takes data from the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS), which has compiled test results for maths, language and cognitive skills from the age of 3 to 14 for 7,580 children across the UK who were born in 2000 or 2001.
The study found that youngsters in Scotland begin school life with an advantage over their peers, which is quickly eroded.
Curriculum for Excellence, introduced in 2010, may have played a part in the results.
Earlier this year, the OECD delivered a withering review of Curriculum for Excellence.
But SNP ministers refused to publish it until after May’s Scottish election, following which John Swinney was replaced as Education Secretary by ShirleyAnne Somerville.
Finally revealed last month, the report said the system is too complex and lacks direction.
Scottish Tory education spokesman Oliver Mundell said: ‘Scotland’s education system was once the envy of the world we are now tumbling down the international rankings. We simply cannot afford to see another generation of Scots used as guinea pigs.’
A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘The OECD has backed Scotland’s school curriculum in its independent review, which is crystal clear: Curriculum for Excellence is the right approach for Scotland.
‘In fact, despite all the criticism here at home, the OECD tells us it is viewed internationally s an inspiring example of curriculum practice.’
ThE report from the Education Policy institute into scottish schools makes for depressing reading.
The think tank’s research finds that scottish children enter primary school with the strongest cognitive skills in the UK – but by the age of 15 they display the worst literacy and numeracy scores across the country.
These findings may seem perverse but they are simply a reflection of the state of degradation into which scottish education has been dragged by 14 years of sNP mismanagement and policy failure. This is further evidence that Curriculum for Excellence does not work.
Not for the first time, holyrood jumped on the right-on bandwagon and constructed a curriculum around educational theories that sound enlightened but do nothing to raise rigour, standards or attainment in the classroom.
Most damning of all was the finding that, while children from all income groups are faring badly, those from the poorest families are doing the worst.
Yet more failure of the most deprived, the children who need a thorough education the most — all in the name of ‘progress’.
Education secretary shirley-Anne somerville must get a grip of this dismal situation and quickly.
Children who are failed in school will go on to struggle for the rest of their lives. That is a cruel sentence to impose on any child.