Warning To Scottish Councils

Pupils' performance getting better, yet still wide variations across councils.

Educational attainment is improving overall in Scotland, but there is a need to close the gap between the lowest and highest performing pupils. 

A new report from the Accounts Commission highlights the rise in attainment over the last decade, as measured by exams taken during S4, S5 & S6. However, there are significant variations between councils, schools and individual groups of pupils. 

The report points out that existing measures do not fully capture a child's performance throughout their time at school. For example, there are no comparable measures at council or national level to compare the performance of pupils from P1 to S3.

It also identifies the extent of new opportunities for pupils to develop a range of skills for living and working in the wider world.

Deprivation is a key factor in attainment performance but some schools in poorer areas perform well. Councils that have made most improvements have focused on areas such as developing leadership skills, improving teacher quality, increasing parental engagement and better tracking and monitoring of each pupil's performance. 

Councils' spending on school education fell by 5% in real terms between 2010/11 and 2112/13 to £3.8 billion. Most of this reduction was as a result of employing fewer staff. Education budgets will continue to face pressures in the future. 

Accounts Commission chair Douglas Sinclair said:

"Councils need to fully understand what interventions are the most effective and tailor resources to meet their local needs. Councillors have a crucial role in supporting improvement by closely scrutinising and challenging performance.

"It is vital that councils close the gap between the lowest and highest performing pupils. There is no single solution for improving educational attainment and many of the factors are linked.

"There are many other skills that children need to succeed in life. As the report makes clear, there is a need for councils to understand broader educational performance and look beyond current exams."

Scottish Conservative education spokeswoman Mary Scanlon MSP said:
 
"This report reaches a number of extremely startling conclusions.
 
"If this gap in performance is not significantly reduced, it is going to continue to cause a number of social and economic problems in the future.
 
"And as the report states, it can't just be down to deprivation, there is clearly an issue of aspiration and ambition in some schools, and a need for positive support and opportunities.
 
"There is a danger a postcode lottery in pupil attainment will be created here, while our global competitors have addressed their problems and raced ahead.
 
"Councils need to get their heads together to see what works and what doesn’t, and this is something the Scottish Government should be tackling as a matter of urgency.
 
"Parents need to be given more control over where they send their children and we need to hand our head teachers more autonomy so they can raise standards."

EIS General Secretary Larry Flanagan said:

"This Report highlights the significant real terms cuts to education budgets over the past few years. As the Report states, this is a continuing problem and so schools are likely to continue to face serious challenges as they endeavour to deliver a consistently high level of provision at a time of declining resources. In particular, as the Report again highlights, there is a substantial additional workload impact on teachers as a result of reduced budgets and declining staff numbers and this can have long-term repercussions for increased sickness absence and low staff morale."
 
Mr Flanagan went on to add:

"The report also touches on the damaging impact that poverty has on pupil attainment. This is an issue on which the EIS is actively campaigning, and simply must be addressed in order to provide all young people with a fair chance to reach their academic potential."
 
One issue of particular concern for the EIS in the Report is the notion of benchmarking and target setting for schools. Commenting, Mr Flanagan said:

"Past experience, both from Scotland and elsewhere, shows clearly that the notion of target-setting and excessive benchmarking of schools is profoundly unhelpful. In Scotland, we have thankfully avoided the league-table and target-driven approach to education that has caused so much damage elsewhere. The Report’s citing of PISA results, a measure that many in education are increasingly questioning the value of, emphasises how questionable conclusions are often drawn from over-analysis.  The EIS continues to absolutely reject the notion that target setting and excessive comparison between schools, operating in a very wide range of circumstances, is in any way conducive to enhancing pupils' learning experience."

Drew Morris is the Assistant Secretary at the EIS.