SNP urged to 'copy homework' on education priorities

The Scottish Greens have invited the SNP to “copy their homework” on closing the educational attainment gap.

The party’s education spokesman, Ross Greer, has issued SNP ministers with a report card highlighting what the Greens see as a series of education failures, including a drop in teacher numbers and salaries.

The Greens have outlined their own educational priorities which include restoring teachers’ pay, increasing Additional Support Needs Provision and employing poverty advisers in schools.

The Greens’ policy paper - Level the Playing Field: High Quality Education for All – comes after the Scottish Parliament voted to scrap standardised testing for primary one children.

Greer said: "The SNP’s education report card could be defined by one line, ‘needs improvement’.

“The core issue facing Scottish education today is not governance structures or lack of tests but a decade of budget cuts which have left school short-staffed, under-resourced and with unsustainable workloads for those who are left.

“Given the poverty-related attainment gap doesn’t start in classrooms though, measures to tackle poverty at source will do just as much, if not more, to help pupils from deprived backgrounds as any measures taken in schools.

“That is a major focus of our paper and it’s one the SNP really need to listen to if they are to have any hope of meeting their own ambitions for closing the gap.

"The priorities we are outlining are the best way of giving every young person the chance to succeed, regardless of their circumstances. If the Scottish Government really wants to close the attainment gap they should copy our homework.

“Greens will continue to press for restoration of funding to ease the pressure on local councils and teachers, so they can deliver education for all.”