Sturgeon’s five years of failure
Tories attack the First Minister’s appalling record on education
NICOLA Sturgeon was yesterday accused of five years of failure despite claiming improving education would be her ‘top priority’ when she was elected party leader.
The First Minister was chosen as the successor to Alex Salmond in 2014, and immediately said that improving schools would be her main focus.
But the Tories yesterday said her separation crusade was instead her main priority at the expense of education, and pupils have suffered as a result.
Liz Smith, Scottish Conservative education spokesman, said: ‘Five years ago, Nicola Sturgeon claimed that education was her number one priority and she told us all to judge her on her record.
‘The reality is Nicola Sturgeon has spent five years concentrating on Indyref 2 and now pupils have fewer choices, and can’t get the grades they need. Nicola Sturgeon has failed on education and failed a generation of chilOnly dren and parents. The majority of Scots want good schools for their kids, not another divisive independence referendum but Nicola Sturgeon isn’t listening. voting for the Scottish Conservatives will send a message to the SNP – “no more referendums”.’
Miss Sturgeon was elected as SNP leader on November 14, 2014, after Mr Salmond quit in the wake of the independence referendum result, and became First Minister four days later.
She immediately said that education would be her main focus, stating she should be ‘judged on her record’. But the Scottish Conservatives revealed a long list of educational decline since 2014, which they say shows failure under Miss Sturgeon’s leadership.
It highlights falling Higher pass rates, reducing subject choice and a continuing attainment gap – something the First
Minister promised to eradicate. In June, Education Secretary John Swinney said closing the attainment gap will take ‘in excess of ten years’, despite the SNP being in power for 12 years already.
In September, the SNP’s own expert education panel – the International Council of Education Advisers – said that the attainment gap might not close for 15 years. But Nationalist MSP George Adam said: ‘Under Nicola Sturgeon as First Minister, we’re closing the attainment gap with £750million of investment and we’ve built or refurbished 364 schools.’
The Tories found the Higher pass rate has fallen for four consecutive years, from 79.2 per cent in 2015 to 74.8 per cent this year. Meanwhile the Advanced
Higher pass rate is at the lowest level in five years, falling from 80.9 per cent in 2015 to 79.4 per cent this year.
The National 5 pass rate is at the second lowest level in four years, dropping from 79.8 per cent in 2015 to a new low of 77.4 per cent in 2018 and sitting at 78.2 per cent now.
Scottish Government civil servants’ own analysis also shows subject choice reduced from 2012-13 to 2017-18.
They said that, on average, school leavers entered ten subjects in 2012-13 but as of 201718, they only entered eight.
Similarly, the number of schools where pupils take fewer than six subjects has more than tripled in five years.
Scottish Conservative research found that in 2013 there were 46 schools where S4 pupils took fewer than six subjects. Now, there are 165.
In contrast, the number of schools where pupils take seven or more almost halved, from 308 to 182.
In 2016, former Tory leader Ruth Davidson attacked Miss Sturgeon over her party’s record on schooling.
She accused ministers of having ‘spent ten years failing to sort out endemic failures in Scottish education’.
Miss Davidson had said a ‘root and branch’ assessment was needed to address the problems.
In response, Miss Sturgeon said the then Tory leader had done ‘a disservice to the work that is going on in education’.
‘Pupils have fewer choices’ ‘Root and branch assessment’