Tag: education

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After two decades of SNP Government far fewer per head young Scots are not in employment, education or training (Neets)

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BBC Breakfast today had the above headline story of 1 012 000 16 to 24 year-olds not in employment, education and training. All things being equal, with 8% of the population, you’d expect the figure in Scotland to be around 81 000. Scotland does not publish a single official NEET figure for the full 16–24 age group using the same definition as the UK-wide Labour Force Survey (LFS). Instead, it focuses on a more comprehensive Annual Participation Measure (APM) for ages 16–19 and the figure for that is around 9 000. https://www.skillsdevelopmentscotland.co.uk/media/2y3ex4it/2025-annual-participation-measure-statistics.pdf On the basis of the above, the Scottish … Continue reading After two decades of SNP Government far fewer per head young Scots are not in employment, education or training (Neets)

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Major increases in school-leaver employment and university access in SNP years

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From Summary Statistics for Follow-up Leaver Destinations, No. 8: 2026 edition, published today, the above table extract and: This statistical publication provides information on the follow-up destinations, nine months after the end of the school year, of 2024-25 school leavers from publicly funded secondary schools in Scotland. https://www.gov.scot/publications/summary-statistics-for-follow-up-leaver-destinations-no-8-2026-edition/documents/ This table shows that as the SNP Government, first elected in 2007, ‘got behind the wheel’ it began to take steps to improve school-leaver employment and HE access and fifteen years alter the results are impressive with 15% improvements in both by 2024/2025. For any who refuse to allow the SNP credit … Continue reading Major increases in school-leaver employment and university access in SNP years

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‘£38.6 million in party funding coming from unknown sources’

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By stewartb There are critical voices raised regarding the financing of politics in the UK but the issue seems to gain little immediate and certainly no sustained MSM attention. (A bit like wider electoral reform?) The Electoral Reform Society on February 19, 2026 published this: ‘Briefing on Political Finance’ (https://electoral-reform.org.uk/latest-news-and-research/parliamentary-briefings/briefing-on-political-finance/ ) It’s very revealing about political financing in the UK, and worrying for UK democracy especially in the context of Westminster’s FPTP voting system that can give so much power to a party achieving a minority of the popular vote, enabled by huge and often ‘dark’ donations and loans. Examples from the … Continue reading ‘£38.6 million in party funding coming from unknown sources’

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Scotland’s additional stricter regulations mean that none of 18 000 nurses with possible criminal records in England could be registered to work here

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From Nursing Standard, four days ago, the above and: Hundreds of nurses are set to have their registrations reviewed after the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) failed to follow due process for declaring health conditions and criminal convictions for 12 years.  A member of staff raised concerns about an historical failure to consistently refer declarations of health issues and criminal records to an assistant registrar, which led to an initial review of more than 18,000 registrants. That review determined that no further action was required in 17,639 cases. https://rcni.com/nursing-standard/newsroom/news/hundreds-of-nurses-to-have-nmc-registration-info-reassessed-after-astounding-failure-222771?utm_campaign=WEEKLY%20BRIEFING%2001.06.26%20-%20REG&utm_content=ZONE%201%20LINK%201%20NEWS%20Hundreds%20of%20nurses%20to%20have%20NMC%20registration%20info%20reassessed%20after%20%27astounding%20fai&utm_term=&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Adestra&check_logged_in=1 Might unique NHS Scotland regulations practices and procedures make this less likely even … Continue reading Scotland’s additional stricter regulations mean that none of 18 000 nurses with possible criminal records in England could be registered to work here

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‘Two decades of havoc’ – Here’s what a real, current, international expert ON EDUCATION knows of the PISA testing loved by Scotland’s only user, Lindsay Paterson

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By stewartb It’s not that hard to find educationalists internationally who are either sceptical or straightforwardly negative about the OECD’s PISA rankings. This from one ‘expert’ in a peer reviewed journal: Zhao, Y. Two decades of havoc: A synthesis of criticism against PISA. J Educ Change 21, 245–266 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10833-019-09367-x Abstract: ‘The Programme for International Students Assessment (PISA) has become one of the most influential forces in global education. The growing influence has been accompanied by growing criticism. For nearly two decades since the first round of PISA was conducted in 2000, the global assessment program has been roundly scrutinized and criticized by education … Continue reading ‘Two decades of havoc’ – Here’s what a real, current, international expert ON EDUCATION knows of the PISA testing loved by Scotland’s only user, Lindsay Paterson

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Major comparative study by respected Nuffield Foundation found higher educational achievement across the board in Scotland in the Sturgeon era than in other parts of the UK

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Note – Do you think Prof Paterson noticed this at the time? Professor John Robertson OBA, for nearly 40 years a schoolteacher, a teacher education lecturer, Associate Dean for Quality Assurance, research methods lecturer, PhD supervisor and Faculty Research Ethics Chair From Comparing inequality and outcomes across post-16 education in the UK, published in August 2025, utterly ignored at the time but worth revisiting in the light of the current witch-hunt of the First Minister in whose time these achievements were made: Since the formal introduction of devolution in the late 1990s, post-16 education and training (E&T)has looked increasingly different across the four nations of … Continue reading Major comparative study by respected Nuffield Foundation found higher educational achievement across the board in Scotland in the Sturgeon era than in other parts of the UK

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How, thanks to SNP, around Scottish 200 000* families on low income receives £15 000 more a year than identical households in England and eight reasons why that’s good for every one of us

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Thanks once more to Dottie for alerting me to this. In the Guardian yesterday: The emergence of “welfare nationalism” in the UK has created striking differences in benefit entitlement that result in a Scottish family on a low income receiving £15,000 a year more in state support than an identical household over the border in England. A typical out of work couple with four children would have received £22,000 a year benefit income in York, compared with £32,000 in Belfast and £37,000 in Glasgow, according to new research on the impact of devolved welfare approaches Other eye-catching divergences include benefit and … Continue reading How, thanks to SNP, around Scottish 200 000* families on low income receives £15 000 more a year than identical households in England and eight reasons why that’s good for every one of us

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The Herald’s ‘senior academic’ wheeled in to savage Scottish schools again is mere ‘bean counter’ with no experience of teaching in schools, teacher ‘training’, leadership or research into anything other than assessment data

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The Herald today has: I’ve lost track of how often I’ve felt the need to deal with Prof Paterson, Scotland’s only regular rentagobprof across Scottish and English MSM, always ready to tell everyone that education in Scotland is in decline and worse than elsewhere and, to my knowledge, only fan of Pisa data. He is, to my knowledge, the only serious educationist publishing in peer-review journals who thinks the Pisa scores are of any value at all. I’ll come back to Pisa scores below but first and perhaps explaining his odd attachment to them: Why is Paterson not an expert … Continue reading The Herald’s ‘senior academic’ wheeled in to savage Scottish schools again is mere ‘bean counter’ with no experience of teaching in schools, teacher ‘training’, leadership or research into anything other than assessment data

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The Milburn report on the ‘UK’s ‘lost generation’ does look north, does spot some of Scotland’s strengths but should have tried much harder

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By stewartb The interim report from the Milburn review examining the issues around NEETs gained a lot of MSM attention. See Milburn, A. (May 28, 2026) Independent report: Young people and work: interim report. Report for the Department for Work & Pensions. Its stated geographic scope is clear from the outset: it’s the whole of the UK. The report does acknowledge that certain germane policy areas are devolved: ‘Where policy areas discussed are devolved to Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland, this is noted.’ However, whilst some of the statistics provided are for the UK, most are for England only. No disaggregated stats for … Continue reading The Milburn report on the ‘UK’s ‘lost generation’ does look north, does spot some of Scotland’s strengths but should have tried much harder

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Never mind the Dutch what can the Scots teach the ‘UK’ about how to tackle the youth jobs crisis?

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Over the years, I’ve noticed that no matter the issue, experts and journalists will never dream of looking north for a solution. Yesterday, in the Guardian: A shock government-backed report this week warned of the danger of a “lost generation” of young people in Britain, as the number of 16- to 24-year-olds not in education, employment or training (Neets) rose to more than 1 million. According to official UK statistics, roughly 13.5% of young people are not in work or college. Among 18- to 24-year-olds the share rises to 15.8% – nearly one in six. In the Netherlands, the equivalent figure has been … Continue reading Never mind the Dutch what can the Scots teach the ‘UK’ about how to tackle the youth jobs crisis?