The Scotsman and the Express today reveal their ignorance and/or deviousness by ignoring the disruptions in 2020, 2021 and 2022 caused by pandemic measures and headline claims that the attainment gap between pupils in the most advantaged and most disadvantaged areas, at the SQA higher level has widened.
It has not. It has narrowed by almost 1% to 16% from 16.9% in 2019.
This is part of longer trends under SNP Government.
At SCQF level 7 (Advanced Higher), the gap in 2009/10, two years after the SNP first came to power, was 24.1 and by 2021/22 it was 22.2, though down from 25 in the previous year but more important the most disadvantaged group at this level was increasing in size dramatically.
In 2009/10 only 4.7% of those in the most disadvantaged 20% had achieved at this level but by 2021/22, the figure was 10.3%, more than doubling in only 12 years. Remember also, that 20% means nearly 3 000 pupils every year.
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
You know what readers of the Scotsman and the Express will believe. Anybody and anything rather than admit that there’s a possibility there is no SG/SNP bad story behind these results.
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I wonder why the SNP were apologising then?
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What do you mean?
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There seems to be several ways to ‘measure’s the attainment gap. Opposition parties will of course used the method that gives them the answer they want.
University applications is one way. In 2018 UCAS which deals with University applications for Eng, Wales, NI and Scotland carried out an analysis of Uni applications over a 12 year period, 2006, to 2018 for each country in the UK. To aid the comparison they used a common measure of advantaged/disadvantage knownbas POLAR 3.
The results for Scotland showed that in 2006, when LabLibDems were in charge, about 9.3% of applications came from the most disadvantaged cohort. By 2018 that had almost doubled to just over 17%.
The ratio of applications from the most adv to most disadvantaged in 2006 was 4.5 to 1 by 2018 it was 2.6 to 1. As UCAS said in its Freb 2018 report this narrowing of the attainment gap was due to the large increase in applications from the most disadvantaged pupils. In 2019 there was a further slight narrowing of that gap.
UCAS only deals with 2/3rds of the Univ Applications for Scottish Unis the other 1/3rd are processed in Scotland and probably consist of those going th College first to do HNC & HND then transferring into Uni and those going the Direct Access route. Both of these routes are likely to appeal to disadvantaged students for various reasons therefore the attainment gap may be even narrower then UCAS calculated.
The recent results from Primary schools showing a narrowing of the gap suggests that narrowing of the gap will continue in future years as these pupils work their way through Secondary school.
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“The Scotsman and the Express today reveal their ignorance and/or deviousness”
No OR about it….so ‘and’ it is then…
Ignorance because they care not if what they produce is accurate and fair plus their deviousness is blatant because what they produce is written only to stir up negativity, a lack of confidence in and hostility against the Scottish Government/SNP…..
For them the headline is what, they hope, will connect with the voters…..even those who do not buy their papers but instead peruse the news stands to read only the headlines…..thus it is hoped then that the damage and the job will be done…..as in read all about it (again) #SNPBAD headline (another one)….
I pity those voters who base their opinions and votes on headlines….as once reality dawns then the ones politically that they were told were bad turn out to be the ones they should have stuck with and thus still voted for…while those other parties that the newspapers chose to adopt discretion over exposure upon , and who are then elected , turn out to be the real duds……perhaps those voters would be better served to read all about it elsewhere other than via newspapers …..like say social media forums, trusted blogs and specific Twitter accounts….a more honest, perceptive and broader view of news, information, opinions and knowledge of news where we are and too where they are too can be found….
We have a media who are clearly compromised by their complicity with specific political parties…alas post any election tis too late to change your vote so you and others (who did not vote for those parties) are then worse off for it….meanwhile the media continues post elections to do the same again to anyone or any party who threatens their favoured party and too their NON Union….while also covering up and excusing their favoured party for any of their failures or incompetence or indeed connect any of Scotland’s woes with it still being a part of their UK…..indeed much of the media is just an extended PR for some political parties…..
So tis no wonder it is only those with a limited grasp of what’s what who still buy and read their papers and watch and listen to their news on TV…..the rest of us are more concerned with electing those who, so far , have had a proven record of doing far better than all of the other governments within their UK (as in the Scottish government)…….irrespective of what their newspapers and TV/Radio/Debate programmes try to insist is the more believable versions of truth and reality….we know differently.
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Looking at the differences over the years 2019 – 2023 shows that the gap was narrowest after the SQA’s algorithm was exposed to public scrutiny, I am concerned that there does not appear to be any information on the basis of the SQA’s “sensitive approach” used this year.
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The examination results for England Wales and Northern Ireland were released today. As predicted and, as happened in Scotland the proportion of highest grades was lower than in the previous three years.
However, compared with 2019, the last year when attainment was determined by examination, the ‘gap’ between the attainment levels of upper and lower socioeconomic groups widened.
As is the case every year in Scotland, there was a line-up of Labour, Tory and LibDem politicians excoriating the ‘continued failure of the ‘SNP’ Government to close the gap’. This, as ever, was based on a narrowly selective reading of data, whereas the long term trend based on several criteria is of the gap reducing.
However, in England, the widening gap is simply reported as a fact, without comment and no Labour or LibDem spokespersons blaming the Tory Government.
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