Thread by @DeanMThomson

Some curiosities in the Scottish government’s approach to education, international comparisons...and picking fights with teachers...
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1️⃣ Withdrawal from international comparisons

ScotGov has withdrawn from two international education surveys:

➡️Trends in International Mathematics & Science Study (Timss),

➡️ Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS)
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PISA is last of big three Scotland still participated in.

2019 PISA reveals declining Scottish performance in maths and science.
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So why withdrawal from Timss & PIRLS)?

Scottish Ed Sec John Swinney blames a need to ‘save cash’.
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Of course the decision had nothing to do with what Audit Scotland describes as “static” funding of education in Scotland...

Perish the thought you cynically minded folk! 😏
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And nothing to do with falling performance in core subjects:

➡️ “worst ever score in maths and science in a major international comparative study of education” (thank goodness there’s only one major international comparative ScotGov needs to worry about, eh?)
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➡️ “Scotland scored better at reading than Northern Ireland but got a lower score than England and Northern Ireland on maths and science. England was best performing across all areas of the UK.”

Three cheers for being described as “around average” in maths and science...
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2️⃣ Caught between a rock and a hard place

The SNP seem stuck between the teaching unions on the one hand, and their former (and they hope future) big ‘Yes’ donors regarding their failure to close the attainment gap
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Angus Tulloch is an investment fund manager who gave £250,000 to Yes Scotland before the 2014 referendum.

He is angry at the teaching unions, and thinks the SNP are ‘failing’ to stand up to them...
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And John Swinney has been feeling the need in recent weeks to start arguing with Scotland’s largest teaching union...
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Naturally nobody in ScotGov has considered that maybe Curriculum for Excellence might be flawed, static education funding might be a problem & withdrawing from international education comparisons hides rather than addresses underlying issues.
(11/13)

Nah, let’s all just pick a fight with the teaching unions...that’ll help matters...
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Sources:

Herald:
heraldscotland.com/news/16862149.…

Audit Scotland:
audit-scotland.gov.uk/news/attainmen…

Holyrood:
holyrood.com/news/view,pisa…

Times:
thetimes.co.uk/article/35542f…
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Almost forgot, I promised I'd start putting this link at the bottom of my twitter threads. It will (I hope!) take you to a collection of my previous twitter threads.

threadreaderapp.com/user/DeanMThom…