SNP blamed as survey reveals ‘appalling’ fall in school standards

THE SNP’s education record was yesterday condemned as a “disgrace” after official figures showed declining numeracy standards in primary schools and six out of 10 secondary children underachieving at mathematics.

The Scottish Survey of Literacy and Numeracy (SSLN) found the proportion of primary four youngsters meeting most of the expected standards in mathematics fell by 10 percentage points between 2011 and 2015.

Among primary seven pupils, in the final year of primary school, the decline was six points and for children in the second year of secondary school the drop was two points. Although the latter fall is not statistically significant, only 40 per cent of S2 children now meet the benchmark.

In an extraordinary indictment of the Scottish education system, 36 per cent of S2 children were found to be meeting none of the standards set under the Curriculum for Excellence.

Meanwhile, the gap in performance between children from the wealthiest and poorest areas increased again for P4 and P7 pupils.

John Swinney, the SNP’s new Education Minister, yesterday admitted that he had “much to do” to reverse the decline. Nicola Sturgeon has said she wants to be judged on how successful she is at closing the attainment gap.

In an extraordinary intervention, the Educational Institute of Scotland, the country’s largest teaching union, insisted the survey showed a “good performance.”

But opposition parties said the figures were “appalling” and argued Mr Swinney was partly responsible as he cut education spending during his nine years as Finance Minister.

This year’s survey involved around 10,500 pupils in 2,200 schools. Unlike in previous years, it was not published in March or April, and so not made public before May’s Holyrood election.

The survey found a marked decline in performance between the final year of primary and the second year of secondary school for children of both genders. Just over half of P4 youngsters (55 per cent) in the most deprived communities performed well at maths, compared to 66 per cent of the “middle” group and 76 per cent of children from the wealthiest areas.

By P7, the attainment gap had grown to 22 points, with 55 per cent of the poorest youngsters doing well, 64 per cent of the middle group and 77 per cent of the wealthiest children.

The figures across all three wealth groups slumped in S2 and the gap between top and bottom grew. Only 23 per cent of the poorest children performed well, compared with 53 per cent of youngsters from wealthy areas.

Iain Gray, Scottish Labour’s education spokesman, said: “These figures are a disgrace, and show what happens when a government cuts education budgets by 10 per cent. Our children pay the price in poorer literacy and numeracy skills.”

Liz Smith, the Scottish Tory shadow education minister, said: “These are appalling figures and they show the SNP are failing Scotland’s pupils and failing to close the attainment gap.”

Mr Swinney said: “We have much to do to ensure our young people are supported to improve their understanding and use of numeracy, and our teachers are equipped with the knowledge, skills and confidence to drive up standards in this area.

“We have introduced several measures since numeracy statistics were last published in 2014 as part of our firm commitment to address the attainment gap.”