By stewartb

I’m not one to consider that an education system should be judged on just the OECD’s PISA scoring but there is something to be said for comparing reactions by politicians to such scores for different parts of the UK.

When the last set of PISA results for Scotland were reported on the BBC News website on 5 December 2023, we learned that ‘Performance in Scotland’s high schools has slipped according to new international research on education.’ With countries across the world receiving scores that were better or indeed more often worse than before, there are likely to be a complex of reasons.

In Scotland the cause was simple according to one deep thinking politician. The BBC reported: ‘Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar acknowledged the impact of the Covid pandemic but said the decline in performance was the result of “16 years of SNP incompetence”.’

A report just published by the ‘authoritative’ Institute for Fiscal Studies ‘examines the major challenges for education in Wales, including low outcomes across a range of measures and high levels of inequality.’ (https://ifs.org.uk/publications/major-challenges-education-wales)

It states (with my emphasis): ‘PISA scores DECLINED BY MORE IN WALES THAN IN MOST OTHER COUNTRIES IN 2022, with scores declining by about 20 points (equivalent to about 20% of a standard deviation, which is a big decline). This brought scores in Wales to their LOWEST EVER LEVEL, SIGNIFICANTLY BELOW THE AVERAGE ACROSS OECD COUNTRIES AND SIGNIFICANTLY BELOW THOSE SEEN ACROSS THE REST OF THE UK.’

‘Lower scores in Wales cannot be explained by higher levels of poverty. In PISA, DISADVANTAGED CHILDREN IN ENGLAND SCORE ABOUT 30 POINTS HIGHER, ON AVERAGE, THAN DISADVANTAGED CHILDREN IN WALES. This is a large gap and equivalent to about 30% of a standard deviation. Even more remarkably, THE PERFORMANCE OF DISADVANTAGED CHILDREN IN ENGLAND IS EITHER ABOVE OR SIMILAR TO THE AVERAGE FOR ALL CHILDREN IN WALES.’

And beyond PISA: ‘There are worse post-16 educational outcomes in Wales, with A HIGHER SHARE OF YOUNG PEOPLE NOT IN EDUCATION, EMPLOYMENT OR TRAINING THAN IN THE REST OF THE UK (11% compared with 5–9%), LOWER LEVELS OF PARTICIPATION IN HIGHER EDUCATION (particularly amongst boys) and LOWER LEVELS OF EMPLOYMENT AND EARNINGS FOR THOSE FROM DISADVANTAGED BACKGROUNDS.’

I’m not going to argue that Labour in government in Wales is ‘incompetent’ : I do wonder though how Mr Sarwar would describe his party’s performance on Welsh education! And while we’re at it what about Labour’s performance on the NHS in Wales? ‘Incompetent’ or something else altogether? Whatever – based on its track record in Wales, Labour is not the answer Scotland needs!