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It was a dead cert! When the media operating in Scotland headline concerns about school attainment, they have a very small set of ‘experts’ to call on, all summarily dismissed here umpteen times before.
Today, it’s Carol Ford again.
Understandably, this does not merit another costly investigation by TuS. Here’s our extended report from last December:
Professor John Robertson OBA, former schoolteacher, education lecturer, head of department, Associate Dean (Quality Assurance), Research Professor, research methods tutor, Masters and PhD supervisor, multiple peer-reviewed international research author, Faculty Research Ethics Chair
I know, what a fn big heid but:
Note - I've put all my 'stuff' there because it matters in this topic which is being represented in MSM by a team less credible than I or most retired academics are to talk about it. I'm sorry if this seems self-important. I suppose it unavoidably is.
The above is on the front page of the Scotsman, based on a report by the far from ‘independent‘, pompously self-styled Commission on School Reform (neither royal nor government just invented) and fronted by the notorious Carole Ford with, as always, party-affiliation hidden, and at the end evidence of Pisa-data which no respectable published educationist will ever use.
I’d need to see their full report before commenting on its substance but I feel sure it won’t add up.
Why?
Because I know who these people are and what their agenda is:
The Commission on School Reform:
- Keir Bloomer (Chair): Education Consultant and former Director of Education [Clackmannanshire!]
- Carole Ford: Former head teacher of Kilmarnock Academy and former president of School Leaders Scotland [candidate in the 2016 Scottish Parliament elections for the Scottish Liberal Democrats in Glasgow Kelvin and on the Glasgow regional list, coming fifth]
- Jim Goodall: Former Head of Education and Community Services at Clackmannanshire Council and former Lib Dem councillor at East Dunbartonshire Council
- Johann Lamont: Former teacher (1979-99) and retired Member of Scottish Parliament (1999-2022) Labour leader!
- Cllr Alix Mathieson: Conservative Councillor at East Dunbartonshire Council, member of education committee and Former Chairperson of a third sector nursery
- Lindsay Paterson: Professor emeritus of education policy in the School of Social and Political Science at Edinburgh University. [The only Scottish ‘academic’ who thinks Pisa scores are useful]
Only Paterson has published research on education and it’s just based on statistics he chooses to favour such as Pisa scores. He has never, taught in schools. His background is in agricultural research. Ford is a serial presence in anti-SNP media. Bloomer wouldn’t know a research method it it bit him in the bum. Lamont? FFS.
Their previous report Behaviour in Schools, in September 2025, makes no pretence. It does not feature the word ‘method’ for the simple reason it has none – FAILED Research Methods 101! The report, also does not have a review of literature upon which to base and to justify its research questions [NONE] – FAILED.
And Pisa?
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By Alasdair Macdonald
The issue is with PISA. It has very little statistical rigour and offers nothing in the way of improving educational practice.
I was a secondary school head teacher at the time it and other ‘measures’ were introduced in education in Scotland in other places. I and my colleagues argued against it.
Educational provision, like everything else, ought to be continuously evaluated, partly to get evidence on whether it is achieving the aims set out for it and partly to get information on areas which require attention. However, there are, literally, hundreds of aspects to be measured and many of these aspects are not measurable by things like tests of arithmetical competence. Such tests are part of the picture but their results are not the full picture (insofar as a full picture can be obtained) Most of the data have to be set in a fairly long time context so that temporary fluctuations can be seen. Usually such temporary fluctuations are easily explainable, in the cases of individual schools.
Such data do, in fact exist. There is a great deal of it and it requires a great deal of care and experience to identify things which are of statistical significance. And things can be significantly ‘good’ as well as ‘poor’.
PISA is of no benefit in this evaluative context. It is an instrument of BLAME and, as such, is a tool of control and compliance over schools and teachers. For some politicians and their media mouthpieces it is a malign instrument which stifles the creativity which is an essential part of teaching.
Some of those in power see such creativity as presenting a threat to their power.
Creativity and the autonomy necessary to be creative can challenge power, but it is the way that people in all walks of life improve things. It is essential in medicine, science, engineering, the arts, social policy, etc.
PISA is a club to beat creativity out of teachers and schools.
And:
As for Scotland performing ‘below’ England? Complete twaddle. See:
The England PISA sample consisted of 201 eligible schools having at least one pupil in this age range. In England, 3,852 pupils from original sample schools and 911 pupils from replacement schools participated. Pupils in participating schools that did not participate are not replaced. 159 agreed to participate, along with a further 32 replacement schools, but 16 schools withdrew before data collection. Data was therefore collected from 143 schools in the original sample and 32 replacement schools. Of this total, nine original sample schools and one replacement school were omitted from the response rate adjudication process, leaving a total of 134 schools from the original sample and 31 replacement schools.
chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/656dc3321104cf0013fa742f/PISA_2022_England_National_Report.pdf
So, in England, in the end, 165 schools and 4 763 pupils took part.
The Scottish participation, from only a tenth of the pupil population and schools, was:
117 secondary schools participated in the survey, representing a school response rate of 96.4 per cent; exceeding the OECD’s minimum standard of 85 per cent. 3,257 students took part giving a weighted student participation rate of 79.4 per cent, slightly below the student participation technical standard of 80 per cent. https://www.gov.scot/publications/programme-international-student-assessment-pisa-2022-highlights-scotlands-results/
There are 357 secondary schools overall in Scotland so a sample of 32.8% was used.
Only 4 763 pupils in 165 schools took part in England. There are 3 458 secondary schools in England so only 4.7% of them took part. Were they then representative or just maybe, the best performing?
There are roughly 10 times as many 15 year-olds in England yet the sample-size was less than twice.
The Pisa results in England and Scotland are simply not comparable and had the English sample of schools been similarly representative and not so suspiciously selective, we can only guess that Scotland would have performed far better than England.
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The Commission on School Reform is part of Enlighten ( Scotland ) which is the new name for Reform Scotland which is the b*stard child of Lord Jack-the-lad McConnell – so completely independent , neutral and definitely not linked in any way to anti-independence organisations ( wink , wink ! ).
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Thx for info – I suspected as much as per my comment below.
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The Commission on School Reform appears to be another astroturf outfit similar to Jack, sorry Lord, McConnell’s Enlighten. I wonder how many of these fake think tanks exist and who funds them. I don’t watch the BBC so don’t know about them
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You wrote : “When the media operating in Scotland headline concerns about school attainment, they have a very small set of ‘experts’ to call on, all summarily dismissed here umpteen times before”
The BBC in Scotland are the worse.
The BBC in Scotland platform those (same) ‘experts’ who are to be assumed to be neutral , but as experts , they all somehow always seem to have a rabid #SNPBAD angle in their opinions .
So then with many of these guests being presented as politically ‘neutral’ you then find that after you do just a wee bit of research, or you already know who they are, it is clearly obvious and so then firmly established that they have an affiliation with some opposition political party to the SNP.
In April 2026 MSM Monitor posted this:
“The latest edition of Scotcast features well known Scottish Labour activist Prof. June Andrews but fails to inform people of her political background. In the 2024 general election she campaigned for Labour candidate Gregor Poynton. In Oct 2024 BBC Scotland had to apologise for platforming the same academic without telling people she was a Labour activist. Andrews is currently posting pro-Labour campaign material on social media. Martin Geissler and his Scotcast colleagues have some explaining to do”.
BBC corrections and clarifications noted that apology in stating that:
“BBC Radio Scotland, 28 October 2024
In an interview about charity Age Scotland’s concern that more older people will be taken to hospital with hypothermia this year following cuts to the winter fuel payment, the programme spoke with a guest as an expert in the care of older people.
Our editorial guidelines state that “We should not automatically assume that contributors from other organisations (such as academics, journalists, researchers and representatives of charities and think-tanks) are unbiased. Appropriate information about their affiliations, funding and particular viewpoints should be made available to the audience, when relevant to the context.”
While the contributions from the guest were appropriate for the item, in hindsight, with the interview moving into areas of political decision-making, the programme should have found a way to convey to listeners more information on the guest’s party political standpoint. We have reminded our teams of the importance of this in preparing and conducting interviews”.
So they, BBC HQ, may have “reminded our (their) teams (in Scotland) of the importance of this in preparing and conducting interviews” but it seems that they, BBC Scotland, are clearly not listening , as in this is obviously falling on deaf ears.
Though I strongly suspect that they, BBC Scotland, are not being reminded by BBC HQ to “convey to listeners more information on the guest’s party political standpoint” but instead this pointless BBC Corrections and Clarifications is a way to avoid any real accountability and punishment by the media regulator.
A media regulator who is supposed to regulate media output .
As the BBC , as a British broadcaster , see it as their job to make sure that the SNP are politically damaged and so then any, or all other parties ( pro UK ones) , who stand against them in Scotland then benefit from all and any #SNPBAD news via all of the most obvious anti SNP guests on the BBC. (this is done at both BBC Scotland branch office level and also at BBC HQ in London).
That political damage to the SNP by the BBC is also inflicted by their political editors , by all of the opposition parties of the SNP that the BBC regularly give a platform to in order to scream #SNPBAD and also basically anyone else that they, the BBC, thinks will be able to relate their own particular #SNPBAD story in order for the BBC to broadcast it on their various BBC news programmes, transmit it on BBC radio or publish it on their BBC website.
Once even more people in Scotland become enlightened to this above fact in respect to the BBC news teams, well then and only then can that finally further diminish an already failing British news corporation and so then see it falling even further into insignificance as a news source, and also as one that should be regarded as politically compromised, totally untrustworthy and extremely unreliable.
Amen to that.
Liz S
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In my experience head teachers are not always ‘concerned’ enough about the kids attending the school that they lord over…sometimes it’s the opposite in fact.
So I would take anything that this person says with a very large pinch of salt, on any matter especially kids’ welfare and education.
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So much attention given to an ‘attainment gap’ that to be eliminated probably requires draconian action to deliberately disadvantage the pupils from least disadvantaged areas or families. Wholly unacceptable!
Why so little MSM and opposition politicians’ attention to ‘progression’ through the education system in Scotland?
And to ‘widening access’?
And to investment in renewing the school estate? And in investment in the teaching profession – and in maintaining decent relations between government, employers and teachers?
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They are a bunch of unionist nutcases. Basically speak a heap of dung. Never have so many been promoted above their capabilities.
On debate a teacher in the audience put Carol Ford right. Her face was a picture.
There is no attainment Gap. Adding in (returning) mature students 25%. There is an attainment surplus. 9%. 25% – 16%. There are more people in Scottish pop with degrees, than any other country.
More Unis per population 15. Pop 5.5million. Colleges and apprenticeships. The mature student are always left out of the equation numbers. 30% go from school, but 25% of students return later. They will not be people returning to do a 2nd degree because they have to pay the whole cost for it. They do not get a 2nd loan (only four years). Unlikely to be people with degrees, but people who did not go at eighteen, for various reasons.
Thatcher encouraged mature students because the birth rate fell from the 1960’s (Contraception). Or the universities could have been quite empty. No longer grants but loans as more people attended. To try and cut costs. Thatcher milk snatcher. Pulled up the ladder. After they all had a relatively non contributed, privilege education. Thatcher died at the Ritz, alone. Free no contribution. .
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Carol Ford.
An autistic child swore in the classroom. Unfortunately unavoidable. There was leniency. Mum cut technology as a punishment. Child was not pleased.
The child is a genius. A grades. Expert on computers. Could speak fluent French without much guidance. Won prizes for French and Computing. Brilliant kid., amazing. Well behaved. Kind, generous. Was bullied a bit but given great support and did not notice. Or was unaware.
Neurodiverse pupils can have extreme talent. They can swear, have meltdowns. Even appear violent. If they are placed in a state of anxiety. They have to be supported and help choose other routes. To try to keep calm and carry on. To develop different traits.
The Scottish Gov is helping. Putting counsellors in every school. Funding additional needs requirement. Making a difference. More people are getting a diagnosis and support. Including financial. A six page form. Not persecuted.
Pity about Carol Ford. A few extra modules might have helped. Now retired? Looking for a political outlet. Leaves much to be desired.
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