SNP have given up on closing educational attainment gap

Scottish Liberal Democrat education spokesperson Willie Rennie has today said that ministers have “given up” when it comes to closing the attainment gap for those leaving school.

In 2015, Nicola Sturgeon declared that people should judge her government on its education record and, in particular, in tackling the attainment gap between the least and most deprived pupils.

However, figures published by the Scottish Government today show that under the All SCQF measure, the gap between the proportion of school leavers from the most and least deprived areas attaining five or more passes:

• Widened at Level 4 to 19.5 percentage points, up from 17.8 in 2018/19.
• Narrowed at Level 5 by a mere 2.7 percentage points compared to eight years ago.
• Widened at Level 6 to 40.00 percentage points, up from 37.4 in 2018/19.

Separately, under the National Qualifications measure, the gap between the proportion of school leavers from the most and least deprived areas attaining one or more passes was wider across all levels than in 2018/19.

Willie Rennie said:

“The attainment gap is growing and it’s clear that SNP ministers have given up on closing it as they promised a decade ago.

“When I speak with teachers, they identify a series of classroom challenges, from bad behaviour and high absence rates to lack of additional support for pupils who need it.

“The SNP’s promise to a whole generation of pupils from deprived backgrounds is irrevocably broken.  

“Only Scottish Liberal Democrats have a realistic plan to get Scottish education back to its best. We will get phones out of schools and put in place pupil support assistants so every child gets the best start in life.”