NICOLA Sturgeon wants “substantial progress” to be made towards ending a wide achievement gap between students from affluent and poorer backgrounds in Scotland’s schools within the next decade.
The First Minister was speaking as she launched a new National Improvement Framework for education, which will bring in national assessments for primary school pupils.
Critics have voiced concern about the move, raising fears it will see a return to school league tables. But Sturgeon, who has made narrowing the gap between pupils from rich and poor backgrounds a key aim for her Government, said the tests would for the first time provide “clear and consistent” information about how children are performing in class.
The assessments are being piloted this year before being brought in across Scotland in 2017 and will look at reading, writing and numeracy in P1, P4, P7 and S3 to evaluate pupils’ progress.
They follow a £100 million drive to help schools in the most disadvantaged areas over the next four years via the Scottish Government’s attainment fund.
Official Government figures showed last year that under four in 10 pupils from the most deprived areas of Scotland left school with at least one Higher, while in the most affluent areas the figure was eight out of 10.
“That’s not acceptable,” Sturgeon, said addressing the International Congress on School Effectiveness and Improvement in Glasgow yesterday.
“Nobody can be comfortable living in a country where different levels of wealth create such a significant gap in the attainment levels and therefore the life chances of so many children.
“It means that too many people are unable to realise their potential, and to fully contribute their talents, ideas and energies to society.”
She added: “At the moment, nearly all of the 32 local authority areas in Scotland conduct some form of standardised assessment to monitor children’s progress. However, those assessments aren’t conducted on a consistent basis.
“That’s why, after three months of extensive consultation, we are launching a National Improvement Framework for Scottish education. It is based on four key priorities for education – raising attainment, closing the attainment gap, improving health and wellbeing, and improving employability. It sets out measures for school improvement, school leadership, supporting teachers and engaging parents.”
Sturgeon stressed that teachers’ judgment would be “at the heart of the system”, adding this would be “informed by a system of new national standardised assessment which will provide better and more consistent data about our children’s performance than we have ever had before”.
The First Minister added: “The information will allow us over the next few years to set clear, specific and meaningful milestones on the road to closing the attainment gap.
“I want to be clear today that my personal determination is that we are able to see and demonstrate progress on both excellence and equity by the end of the next parliament.”
Critics have concerns the new assessments could lead to extra pressure on pupils. Isla O’Reilly, education, children and young people spokeswoman for the Scottish Greens and MSP candidate for Highlands and Islands, said: “Class sizes are the largest they’ve been since 2007, teachers are overworked, and additional support needs provision has been cut. Tackling these issues should be the priorities if we are to improve the chances of children from poorer backgrounds.
“Standardised testing is recognised by many as causing anxiety for pupils and staff, and it’s not credible for ministers to hope that the data won’t result in the kind of league table culture that causes stress for families.”
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