Màiri McAllan: I intend to be a reforming Education Secretary

Cabinet secretary for Education, culture and Gaelic Mairi McAllan visits Broughton High School. | Scottish Government

I am currently leading the largest reform to Curriculum for Excellence since its inception. This reform, which began before this year’s PISA results, will, among other things, strengthen knowledge in our curriculum and clarify progression through learning to ensure rigour and excellence.

This will accompany legislation which I am bringing forward to decisively end mobile phones in the classroom on a nationwide basis and will set all of this within the unique opportunity of improvement that the First Minister’s public service reform agenda affords.

Progress and change is coming.

In leading this work I will have PISA, among many other things, in mind because while the changes will surely benefit our assessment against PISA, PISA remain but one lens through which to view our education system.

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While being considerate of a declining international picture, of which Scotland had been part but has avoided in our recent stable results, we should also be clear of the successes. PISA 2025 demonstrates Scotland performs significantly above the OECD average in four of the five measured domains - reading, science, computational problem solving and environmental science.

Results show strengths in young people directing their own learning and a weakening of the link between socioeconomic disadvantage and PISA performance. For reading in particular, results demonstrate this link is being broken down more than in any previous PISA cycle. This means that, more than at any point since 2000, deprivation is increasingly being overcome when it comes to Scottish attainment in literacy. The attainment gap between the most and least advantaged pupils was smaller in Scotland than England in reading and maths and in Scotland employment is higher and unemployment is lower than in England for 16-24 year olds.

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PISA tells us something but is very far from the whole picture. To focus solely on PISA in Scotland is to inexplicably exclude from view, among other things, consecutive years of increasing attainment in National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher; ACEL data showing record levels of literacy and numeracy in schools, our record number of young people going on to ‘positive destinations’ in work study or training when leaving school; the highest ever number of young people in Scotland achieving a place at University this year and the record number doing so from our most deprived communities.

Moreover, while academic rigour is essential and, in my view must be pursued vigorously in our schools, it would be very unwise to adopt a system which ignores other vital skills and attributes that Scotland’s schools are fostering. That risks delivering an education system failing to serve swathes of young people for whom academic pursuits are not possible or desirable. It would deprive our society of future well-rounded, resilient individuals and deprive our economy of a future workforce ready to contribute fulsomely.

As such, our education system must be capable of pursuing both academic and vocational excellence that can be taken into the world by responsible and resilient young people ready to navigate the changing landscape around them. This balance is possible – indeed, this year’s exam results showed it in action with record numbers of vocational qualifications in subjects like childcare, journalism and engineering. We do not have to choose one or other. Indeed we should not. But we do have to challenge ourselves continuously to improve in both respects and it is this I intend to pursue as Education Secretary.

The importance of PISA divides opinion as has been very clear this week. There are those who would consider it the only measure by which to judge our success and there are others, at the opposite end of the ideological spectrum, who would abandon it completely, believing it too narrow to be meaningful in today’s world. I take neither of those positions and in this regard, am only concerned with ensuring the very best outcome for all children in Scotland. That’s the job I take up with pride and vigour.