Excellence in Scottish Education

Part of the debate – in the Scottish Parliament at on 29 September 2022.

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Photo of Sue Webber Sue Webber Conservative

Like other members who have spoken in the debate, I commend, in the words of the Scottish Government’s motion,

“the hard work of ... staff and teaching professionals in Scotland’s schools, colleges, universities and early learning and childcare centres”.

However, we have also heard from members across the chamber that the SNP Government has presided over 15 years of failure in Scottish education, with the attainment gap widening and education standards dropping. The SNP has starved schools and staff of resources, and its curriculum for excellence has been an unmitigated failure. We need to restore excellence in Scottish schools so that every child has the chance to succeed, no matter their background.

The SNP seems to have dropped its commitment to close the attainment gap by 2026. Shirley-Anne Somerville told the Education, Children and Young People Committee:

“I will not set an arbitrary date for when the attainment gap will be closed”.—[

Official Report, Education, Children and Young People Committee

, 18 May 2022; c 4.]