Gillian Keegan: SNP has brought schools to the brink of collapse

'I judge the SNP by their records': Ms Keegan criticized her colleague north of the border Photo: Ian Forsyth/Getty Images

Scotland's school standards have «fallen sharply» because SNP ministers have prioritized «nationalist policies», Gillian Keegan warned after pupils performed their worst in an international study.

The education secretary accused Humza Yousuf's government of overseeing an education system «on the brink of collapse» and of lowering standards.

She said Scotland was «once the envy of the world for education» but last week the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) was a «tale of two records».

Although she said English pupils had risen in international rankings, standards had «fallen sharply» due to » SNP ideology.»

Decrease in math performance by 18 points

The PISA study included 700,000 15-year-old schoolchildren around the world. world was conducted in 2022, the last calendar year of Nicola Sturgeon's tenure as First Minister.

Scotland found an 18-point decline in maths performance since the tests were last administered in 2018, equivalent to almost a year of schooling. school. The reading score dropped by 11 points (about six months of school work), and the science score dropped by seven points.

English pupils have again outperformed their Scottish peers in all three areas, with the gap widening since 2018. Northern Ireland also outperformed Scotland in maths and science.

The global study by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development also found that Scotland has the widest achievement gap between the richest and poorest. Maths students from all over the UK.

This is despite Ms Sturgeon promising to set a target to close the productivity gap. She has shied away from taking schools out of local authority control, as happened in England.

“They refused to follow our lead.”

In Scotland on Sunday, Ms Keegan said: “That situation has not changed.” happened by accident. Different parts of the UK take fundamentally different [approaches] to education.

“Standards have fallen dramatically under the SNP due to their progressive ideology. They have refused to follow our example in academic teaching, relaxed the rigor of their exams and refused to open themselves to scrutiny by dropping out of two international rankings.»

She said the «Scots» The Scottish National Party (SNP) had failed children.» and the Nationalists «have produced the worst educational results in Scotland's history in both maths and science for parents and pupils.»

She concluded: «I judge the SNP on their record — and obviously that they failed. Scottish schools need change. They need a government that puts pupils and parents before their nationalist politics to ensure a bright future for the next generation.»

Jenny Gilruth, the Scottish National Party's education secretary, said: «The Scottish Government will not listen to Gillian Keegan's lectures. about how to run our schools.”

She added: “Ms Keegan would be better off focusing on the areas for which she is responsible in England rather than talking about schools outside her jurisdiction.” «.