Will Westminster learn the right lessons from Scotland’s education disaster?
When experiments are run in public policy, evidence can be collected and the policies can be reviewed, scored and either rolled out, tweaked or abandoned. Not every area of policy lends itself to evidence-based analysis, but sometimes it’s clear-cut. We can see, for example, whether tax revenues rise or fall in response to fiscal reforms. [...]
The recent Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) results have exposed a concerning trend in Scottish education. Since 2010, when the Curriculum for Excellence was introduced by the Scottish National Party, pupils have shown a significant decline in maths, reading, and science. This bold shift towards a more holistic and skills-based approach, prioritizing relevance and life skills over traditional knowledge, has evidently backfired.
The Welsh government's similar strategy has also seen its students' performance stagnate in key subjects like reading and arithmetic. In contrast, England's education system, under the guidance of then Education Secretary Michael Gove, has thrived. By embracing a more structured and knowledge-rich curriculum, English pupils have consistently progressed and now rank among the top internationally in maths, reading, and science.
Despite the evident policy lessons from Scotland and Wales, Labour remains keen on reverting to their earlier approach, reminiscent of the unsuccessful strategies employed in those regions. Critics argue that repeating the same experiment could lead to similar disastrous outcomes for English pupils, who have already benefited from the English model.
Written by urgent.news from City AM's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
