The Talking-up Scotland fund raiser primarily to enable the recruitment of some research assistance, in order to take pressure off me [74 in June and tiring] and hopefully to further improve the blog, has made a good start. To contribute, only if you can (!) go to: Talking-up Scotland - a Politics crowdfunding project in Ayr by Professor John Robertson
By Professor John Robertson OBA, former Associate Dean (Quality Assurance), Faculty of Education, UWS
From the Guardian today:
Cash-strapped schools plan to lay off teachers in blow to Labour’s promiseDespite government pledge to recruit 6,500 new teachers, headteachers are under renewed pressure to avoid going into deficit
Labour swept into government in July with a central promise to tackle the crisis in schools by recruiting 6,500 teachers. But unions have told the Observer that schools have already started making teachers redundant to balance their books, arguing that after more than a decade of funding cuts under the Tories there remain no less painful efficiencies to be made. They warn that if the government presses ahead with a plan not to cover next year’s teachers’ pay rise with extra funds, more teachers will lose their jobs across the country.
What clearer message could there be that Scottish Labour must be kept out of government in Scotland, to protect what we already have?
First, the single most effective thing government’s can do – keep classes sizes low:
The pupil-teacher ratios (PTRs) in the UK and Scotland are as follows:
- In Scotland, the PTR is 13.2, which is the lowest national ratio since 2008. gov.scot
- In comparison, the PTRs in other parts of the UK are:
- Northern Ireland: 17.4
- England: 18.1
- Wales: 18.6. service.gov.uk
- The national PTR for the UK did not change from the previous year, remaining at 13.2 for Scotland. service.gov.uk
These statistics highlight the differences in pupil-teacher ratios across the UK, with Scotland having the lowest ratio. 1,2
The second thing governments can do – spend on the pupils
In the most recent year (2022–23), school spending per pupil in Scotland was over £8,500. This is over 18% or £1,300 higher than the level seen in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, all around £7,200 per pupil. School spending per pupil in Scotland was already 6% higher than in England in 2010. Since then, the gap with the rest of the UK has significantly grown.3
The outcomes. Direct comparisons between educational outputs in different countries are difficult but this one makes sense:
From Literacy and numeracy standards reach record high, published in December 2024:
The proportion of pupils achieving the expected level in literacy and numeracy across primary and secondary schools has reached a new high, officials figures show.
For numeracy, a record 80.3% of pupils across P1, P4 and P7 reached expected levels, while S3 also reached a new high of 90.3%. For literacy, achievement is also now at a record high in both primary (74%) and secondary (88.3%).
The attainment gap between young people from the most and least deprived areas meeting standards in literacy has also reached a new low, according to the latest Achievement of Curriculum for Excellence levels 2023-24 (ACEL) statistics.4
In England, on 9 July 2024, for 11 year-olds [P7]:
[Only] 61% of pupils reached the expected standard in all of reading, writing and maths, up from 60% in 2023. This is below 2019 attainment, where 65% of pupils met the standard.5
Direct comparison with education in other countries is not always reliable but had this stark contrast [32% better] operated in the opposite direction, with England at 80% and Scotland at 61%, you can be sure our media would be all over it.
Sources:
- https://www.gov.scot/publications/summary-statistics-for-schools-in-scotland-2023/pages/school-teachers/
- https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/education-and-training-statistics-for-the-uk/2024
- https://ifs.org.uk/news/growing-gap-school-spending-pupil-between-scotland-and-rest-uk
- https://www.gov.scot/news/literacy-and-numeracy-standards-reach-record-high/?s=03
- https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/key-stage-2-attainment-national-headlines#:~:text=In%202024%2C%2061%25%20of%20pupils,of%20pupils%20met%20the%20standard.
Support Scots Independent, Scotland’s oldest pro-independence newspaper and host of the OBA (Oliver Brown Award) at: https://scotsindependent.scot/FWShop/shop/
The Oliver Brown Award for advancing the cause of Scotland’s self respect, previously awarded to Dr Philippa Whitford, Alex Salmond and Sean Connery: https://scotsindependent.scot/?page_id=116
About Oliver Brown, the first Scottish National Party candidate to save his deposit in a Parliamentary election: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Brow
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
O/T :
Shouldn’t Labour be requiring the Labour MP , Andrew Gwynne to seek re-election rather than just resigning his position .
I remember the SNP MP , Margaret Ferrier , being forced out due to a breach of Covid rules . This Labour MP has shown complete contempt for the electorate .Mind you , that appears to be the overwhelming impression given by the Labour leadership since coming to Office .
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Indeed James.
This is turning into a repeat of what happened with the Tory party under Boris Johnson.
Scandals and resignations from MP’s and ministers.
SKY News political Correspondent , Jon Craig, stated that more worryingly for Keir Starmer was Gwynne’s anti Semitic remark.
Really ?
So that was more significant than Gwynne wishing the deaths of two UK citizens and also him making a racist remark about a Labour party colleague and then also a sexist remark about another Labour party colleague.
Gwynne said in this WhatsApp group that “he hoped a 72-year-old woman would soon have “croaked it” after she asked a councillor, who shared the message in the group, about her bins.” and also he “joked about a constituent being “mown down” by a truck”.
The Q that now should be asked is who else was in this WhatsApp group and what was their input and also what was their responses to Gwynne’s offensive and abusive comments on both of those members of the public, also what was their response to Gwynne’s sexist and racists comments about two of his, and theirs too, Labour colleagues.
The Labour Housing Minister was doing the media rounds today and he stated that this kind of behaviour was apparently below the high standards of public service that Labour aspired to maintain.
Clearly then Andrew Gwynne, as a Labour MP and also as a Junior Govt Minister in the Department of Health, failed to get that particular Labour memo, as he seemed somewhat cavalier in his attitude in him feeling a tad too emboldened to make so many offensive and cruel comments about others as a member of this Labour WhatsApp group.
As yet he has not offered to stand down as an MP and I think he may assume that he can simply apologise, which he has done , so this story on his disgusting comments must be true, and then perhaps he also assumes that eventually this will all just blow over.
He has been suspended from the Labour party , where one also has to assume that this will be permanent , as his comments are those that should be career destroying for a Member of Parliament.
So I wonder if he will indeed suffer real consequences for his atrocious behaviour and be subjected to a recall by voters in his constituency, so prompting a scandal induced By-Election so soon after Labour’s victory last year in the GE.
Who appointed Gwynne for this Junior Ministerial role in the Department of Health, was it the PM or the Health Secretary ?
Whoever it was could be accused of having very bad judgement as this kind of offensive language and abusive behaviour does not just happen overnight with an individual does it ?
Apparently there is now a investigation and it has been revealed that ” more than a dozen Labour councillors, party officials and at least one other MP, all based on the outskirts of Manchester, were involved in the group” so let’s see what they too contributed as messages in this Labour WhatsApp group with Andrew Gwynne, if indeed that is ever exposed.
The Labour party , the Tory party and then we also have the Reform UK party, can anyone identify where is the real distinction between them as UK political parties, though TBH they are all really English Nationalist political parties are they not ?
Is it then any wonder why we also see and hear about the bad behaviour from some of their respective party supporters and party members when we see and hear about this kind of behaviour that has stemmed from them , as elected politicians, in all of these English Nationalist Political parties , as in those who all hide behind a pretence of them being supposedly British or UK political parties.
Glad not everyone gets fooled by them, in what is very much a fake state that they refer to as the UK.
Liz S
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