Sunak’s maths plan highlights falling standards - Sue Webber

I imagine more than a few of those young Scottish people who heard about government plans for compulsory maths until 18 breathed a sigh of relief when they realised it doesn’t apply to Scotland.

Sue Webber is a Scottish Conservative MSP for the Lothians

That’s not to say Prime Minster Rishi Sunak’s desire to improve numeracy is misplaced, but if lack of mathematical and technical ability is a concern in England where half of 16-19-year-olds take no maths-based subjects, it’s alarming in Scotland.

The only international comparison we have is the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), a standard set of tests in reading, maths and science every three years for 15-year-olds in 80 countries, and Scotland has steadily declined in the latter two since 2006.

In the 2018 tests, Scottish scores of 489 for maths and 490 for science were well behind the United Kingdom’s 502 and 505, and it suspected that lower-achieving pupils were withdrawn to lift the score.

Analysis from University College London showed withdrawals doubled from 4.1 per cent in 2015 to 9.3 per cent, and the number of 5th formers tested shot up from nine per cent to 50 per cent while 4th formers went from 89 per cent to 50.

The result, according to UCL’s Professor John Jerrim, was “all a bit of a mess”, and the SNP’s answer? Withdraw from PISA.

Not only are international measures being shunned, but only last year the SNP blocked a key reform, to split regulation of the exam system from the awarding of qualifications.

In 2016 First Minster Nicola Sturgeon claimed raising educational achievement was her “number one priority”, but the evidence suggests gaming the system takes precedence over improving the life chances of our young people. Even so, independent data shows decline. Closing attainment gaps means bringing down the best.

According to UK government figures, some eight million adults’ maths skills are below that expected of nine-year-olds, which proportionately means around 600,000 Scottish adults have the same problem. As being able to count is an essential skill, it might help explain why, according to Scottish Government data, 9.4 per cent of over 16s in Edinburgh have never done a day’s work.

Compulsory maths-related subjects to 18 is not revolutionary and needn’t be delivered in schools but as part of training courses and apprenticeships. But along with slashed college budgets ─ a £51.9m cut this academic year ─ the SNP has frozen Modern Apprenticeships which the Scottish Training Federation estimates affects a fifth of all providers.

Now two-fifths of Scottish businesses have hard-to-fill vacancies, over half due to a skills shortage which, with the right training, many of the workless could meet.

Whether in England or Scotland, the Prime Minister was absolutely right on Wednesday when he said, “in a world where data is everywhere and statistics underpin every job, letting our children out into that world without those skills, is letting our children down.”

And one Scottish maths teacher agrees. “Exponentials might not hide in a lawyer’s briefcase,” she wrote yesterday. “But complex information, difficult challenges, the need to evaluate, the need to make choices based on data? That does.”

It won’t happen overnight, but just three months into the job and Rishi Sunak is determined to do something about it. In six years, letting down our children is Nicola Sturgeon’s responsibility.

Sue Webber is a Scottish Conservative MSP for the Lothians