Can John Swinney reverse the trend of numeracy decline in Scotland?
Scottish education is struggling in quicksand.
Ministers burying their heads in the sinking stuff won’t help.
That’s why John Swinney is right to politely throw his predecessors as under the bus in the wake of worrying numeracy attainment figures.
Clear communication, not garbled jargon or arrogant confrontation, is required as the SNP tries to reform a sector it has allowed to hibernate for the past nine years.
We are far from a crisis, two thirds of P4 and P7 pupils are doing well, but the performance of those from the most deprived backgrounds in particular will rightly worry the new Education Secretary.
He has his thinking cap on but must find a solution before becoming stuck himself.
