Six months ago I wrote a news story about Scotland’s spending watchdog, the Accounts Commission, delivering a damning assessment of the country’s education system.
There was particular pain locally, with Angus Council one of just three in Scotland to see its standards fall for to S4 pupils attaining five level five qualifications and Dundee sat joint bottom when it came to achievement rates.
Just 28% of S4 pupils in the pupils managed five equivalents to a credit level standard grade. I grew up in Angus and live in Dundee and I’m ashamed.
Not of the people sitting these exams. Youngsters are in no way less intelligent in Dundee or Angus than elsewhere in the country. It is Scotland’s education system I’m ashamed of.
Kids from the poorest backgrounds are increasingly being left on the scrapheap. Teachers are stretched to breaking point in some schools because of staff shortages.
The number of those educating Scottish children has fallen by more than 4,000 since the SNP came to power in 2007, while the pupil-to-teacher ratio has increased from 13 to 13.6 over the same period. That means bigger class sizes.
There are views emerging within some in the education sector that perhaps this isn’t the be all and end all of school education.
Douglas Chapman, the Fife councillor who doubles up as COSLA’s education spokesman, recently told MSPs: “As we move forward, we should start to measure not just what we put into the system but the outputs or results of the activities that happen in schools.”
That’s fine, except what we have at the moment is under performing children who really need to be nurtured, looked after and, sometimes, booted up the backside.
Predictably, the Scottish Government has simply shouted “austerity!”
True, things are tough funding-wise. Education Secretary Angela Constance says the Scottish Government’s budget has shrunk by 10% since 2010.
Yet, this is not just about money. This is about choices.
Do we want to invest in our education system? Do we want to be innovative? Do we want to be brave and radical to do the best for our children?
I hope so because at the moment the Scottish Government’s report card is a stern: “Must Do Better”.