10 years of SNP failure in schools

Sir, - On the basis of falling standards in Scottish schools for maths, reading and

science reported in the latest survey of international schools performance (The Courier, December 7), the SNP has clearly failed us.

After 10 years of SNP governance of Scottish education their influence in education has been to make things worse.

The First Minister tried to reassure us when she said she should be judged on the basis of her record on education, but that was mere rhetoric as she demonstrates that engineering a second referendum off the back of the Brexit is her main focus.

John Swinney’s response to these latest figures is to say that radical reform is needed if Scottish education is to get back to its once enviable world class standing.

Yet the last radical new approach in the shape of the Curriculum for Excellence has clearly not delivered for Scotland.

Many teachers warned from the start that this system over promised on the benefits for pupils while burdening teachers with more bureaucracy and mountains of guidance full of jargon and platitudes.

Meanwhile, teaching numbers have fallen under the SNP, leaving those delivering education in Scotland with unwieldy workloads and too often finding paperwork taking precedence over real teaching.

Mr Swinney needs to listen to teachers in schools rather than following the lead of educational experts who never tire of devising new systems that in practice simply make things more difficult for teachers and their pupils. Keith Howell. White Moss, West Linton