The failures in education could be just as damaging as failing to fix the NHS

Education in Scotland is in a perilous state. Within the last few weeks, we’ve had evidence of the extreme pressures facing our schools, our colleges and our universities. No part of the system is working as it should, contrary to government claims about the emphasis it places on providing a good education.

At the end of last month, the first report from Future Framework for the Sustainability and Success of Scotland’s Universities programme was published. It warned of a £200m a year gap between what universities in Scotland are spending versus what they are bringing in. Describing the situation as “bleak”, author of the report Professor Anton Muscatelli also warned the situation would likely get worse due to fewer overseas students coming to Scotland – those tuition fees are one of the few ways institutions can make money.

Two weeks later, an Audit Scotland report highlighted a £5.6m deficit for Scotland’s 19 colleges in 2024/25 – a whopping increase of £4.3m from the year before – and five institutions requiring a cash advance from the Scottish Funding Council to stay afloat. Financial pressure, according to auditor general Stephen Boyle, is “increasing” and the “situation remains extremely challenging”.

And in between those two reports on the state of tertiary education was the Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) results. The only good news from those is that at least things weren’t getting worse from the previous report (at least not in a ‘statistically significant’ way) – but the performance of our teens in science, maths and reading is “significantly below” historic levels.

And while ministers clung to the fact Scottish pupils remained above the international average, what tells us more is the comparison to the UK average. English pupils were leagues ahead, across all three measured areas.

The government response to all this damning evidence of an ignored portfolio has been lacking.

John Swinney insisted during FMQs that he was “proud” of his government’s record on education after pointing to stats that showed it in a better light.

When tertiary education minister Ben Macpherson resigned, it took more than a week for him to be replaced. Alyn Smith, the new minister, is an experienced parliamentarian but has little familiarity in the portfolio. 

Then there’s education secretary Mairi McAllan. Often talked about as having future leadership potential and brought into government immediately upon election in 2021, each portfolio she’s held has shown little sign of improvement. No major changes in land reform; the country still facing an unjust net zero transition; transport in disarray; energy policy muddled; the wellbeing economy dropped from the agenda; and an ongoing housing emergency.

And so, her evidence session with parliament’s education committee the day the Pisa results came out was no surprise either. Pisa was, she says, “just one way of measuring one strand of success in an education system”. It “looks particularly at reading, mathematics and science,” while she is interested in “artistic expression, problem solving and moral education”.

I don’t disagree with the sentiment. Our schools should be a place where children learn to be well-rounded people who can participate fully in society, their worth not based on whether or not they know the answer to one specific mathematics question in one specific exam. But if our schools are not teaching people the fundamentals of reading, mathematics and science to the highest possible standard, something has gone seriously wrong. And the Pisa reports show Scotland has, quite simply, been going backwards on that measure for years.

The good news – for there is some – is at least there is now acknowledgement from within the government that all is not well.

Despite her committee comments, McAllan also acknowledged Pisa shows a “need for change”. A “curriculum improvement cycle” is underway to hopefully address some of the issues.

And for colleges and universities, the Future Framework and the College Sector of The Future workstreams were launched in spring this year to look at future-proofing. And this isn’t just about placing them on a financially sustainable footing, as important as that is, but ensuring they remain at the heart of communities and responding to local needs, both economic and social.

This is also going on within the context of planned sweeping changes to public service. How this will impact the education portfolio has not been a focal point – changes to health, justice and local government have dominated – but clearly reform is needed here too.

An ageing population means there will need to be reductions in school numbers, but we need to make sure this is happening while also driving forward pupil performance and closing the attainment gap. Colleges and universities should be well-placed to cater to the changing needs of the country, able to ensure we have skills for the future and deliver excellent adult learning opportunities. They must remain at the heart of communities even while the face of those communities change.

Getting this wrong could prove just as damaging to Scotland as the failure to reform the NHS and social care. There are reasons to be optimistic – but McAllan, Smith and the rest of government need to step up to the plate. And fast.