The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) published the Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) rankings for 2022, which showed Scotland’s performance in maths, reading and science has declined since 2018.
Scotland’s average reading score was 493 – higher than the OECD average but a fall of 11 points from the 2018 score of 504. The country also lags behind England’s score of 496. Scotland fell slightly for maths and science, scoring 471 and 483, respectively – the second consecutive decline as it fell further on the 2018 rankings.
Scotland placed third across the UK on the two subjects, behind England’s 492 in maths and 503 in science, with only Wales scoring less on 466 and 473.
Scotland’s education system used to be the envy of other Nations around the world. Still, after years of SNP misrule and the introduction of their failed so-called Curriculum for Excellence, it has become a laughing stock. The future of not just our children but our nation as a whole is under threat by the education system’s failure.
The SNP have talked constantly about eradicating poverty and closing the attainment gap between poorer and wealthier Scottish children. They have consistently failed on both, and until the education system is reformed, there will be no positive moves on either; for reform to occur, the SNP needs to be voted out of office.
A more worrying set of facts that the report discovered was the extent to which Scotland’s children are being exposed to violence and disorder daily in our schools.
The report, which assesses 3,300 pupils aged 15 and compares performance with 81 other countries, also revealed school discipline concerns. It showed that Scottish pupils were twice as likely to witness a fight at school than the OECD average, with 35.8% reporting seeing someone get hurt on school grounds, compared to the 17% average.
It also said 40% of Scottish schools had been vandalised compared to the 19.8% OECD average. And 35.7% of pupils surveyed said they have heard a student threaten another student, while the OECD average is just 20.2%. The figures should come as no surprise to many, with teachers in Scotland raising concerns for years now over the rising levels of violence in schools and the intimidation they face daily. In one Glasgow school, teachers this year went on strike, not in an attempt to obtain a pay rise but in a last-ditch plea for help with the violence they were facing.
The SNP has been consistently soft on school discipline and the justice system. Teachers have no way to enforce discipline within the school system. The reasons behind the rise in violence are many but include factors such as the worsening mental health of many Scottish children. This a situation which, again, the SNP have failed to address, with thousands of children being turned away from mental health services and those who do manage to access services having a long wait to be seen in an ill-equipped and underfunded service.
The culture of constantly granting “rights” to children without telling them that with rights come responsibilities and expectations of good behaviour, we are seeing an overprivileged and undisciplined minority of youth causing havoc not just in our schools but also on our streets.
Again, like the reform needed in the education system, we also need reform in justice and mental health services, removing the “woke” ideas that the SNP are promoting heavily within the school system and instilling a sense of better discipline and citizenship in our youth. None will occur until the SNP and their Green cronies are removed from power.
