Parents say they have ‘lost faith’ as Highland Council remains below average in education league tables amid a surge in demand for private tutors
The latest education league tables show Highland Council is at or near the bottom in Scotland as parents say they have “lost faith” and have been forced to hire private tutors so their children learn the basics.
Scottish Government figures on attainment in the curriculum for excellence (ACEL) revealed performance issues going back to the 2016/17 school year with the council failing to match the national average.
Administration councillors have defended the local authority’s record on attainment, citing the launch of attainment boards to raise standards while some councillors blame Covid - but many issues pre-date the pandemic.
Other councillors point to the relatively recent appointment of Kate Lackie - a hugely experienced official, often praised privately for her intellect - as the ultimate head of education as a positive and underline the difference between “achievement” and “attainment” in relation to destinations after education.
Long-term critics of the council argue the education committee has been slow to react, lacks a real strategy, dismisses proposals for improvement out of hand, is hostile to criticism and lacks real debate.
But parents seeking the best education for their children are far from convinced amid almost unheard of calls for an independent school in Inverness.
The results: reading, writing, listening and talking, literacy and numeracy
The best picture of the ACEL results show the percentage of P1, P4 and P7 pupils “achieving expected curriculum for excellence levels” in reading, writing, listening and talking, literacy and numeracy.
All 32 local authorities in Scotland are accounted for between 2016/17 to 2023/24 - data is not available for 2019/20 due to the pandemic.
The 35 results produced for Highland Council provide strong indications that long-term problems exist.
The council was at the bottom of the table on 22 occasions, it also placed around second, third, fourth and fifth lowest - and for the latter two it was just four per cent off the bottom.
The results for 2023/24 show that for reading, the area is currently the second lowest in Scotland; for writing the lowest; listening and talking is fifth lowest; it ranked second lowest for literacy and it was lowest for numeracy.
The ACEL figures only go up to S3 for pupils “achieving the expected standard” for the Third and Fourth Levels within the curriculum again for reading, writing, listening and talking, literacy and numeracy.
The Fourth Level is the most difficult so we looked at the Third Level and they showed considerable improvement compared to the P1, P4 and P7 stats but the Highlands was still in the bottom third in Scotland.
The highest place since 2016 was 16th from the bottom, its lowest place was fifth from the bottom and only on one occasion in 2017/18 did it match the national average for listening and talking.
There was also a small downturn since 2022/23 in the Third Level - reading, writing, listening and talking, and literacy all dropped by one per cent - numeracy held steady.
‘Settling for second or even third best seems to be the way’
More than half a dozen parents have spoken - on condition of anonymity - about the standard of education and hold the council and the curriculum for excellence responsible.
Most of all they are concerned that the current state of education could limit the opportunities of their children.
One parent summed it up: “Having three children in secondary education in Inverness has been a real eye-opener and a journey of many emotions. You hope for the best, yet year after year you are left feeling helpless to influence change and settle for the status quo as there is no other solution.
“The behaviour reported to be going on in classes is unacceptable and not conducive to learning and verging on abuse to teachers. Settling for second or even third best seems to be the way.
“Children from primary school are not grounded in maths and English and that leads to self-doubt, anxiety and disengagement from education. In secondary education, tests decide if you don't make the 'cut' separating you from those that will only have the opportunity to achieve National 4s and not National 5s in fourth year.
“This helps the results look better as it can be said that those doing their National 5s received A grades. This separation also separates those who are getting tutored from those whose parents don't see the need, maybe don't even see future opportunities it could lead to or can't afford it.
“My children all got tutored, however before being tutored by a retired teacher she was shocked that they had been placed in the top set. My children reported they learnt more in one hour with this teacher than a week of classes.
“Children who want to learn are dragged back by those who are disruptive. The disruptive ones usually are the ones that are struggling and have pretty much given up as they don't have the appropriate grounding and support at home or in school.”
They added: “Education has lost its value and we are not getting it right for the children of Scotland.”
What the council says
A spokeswoman for the local authority said: “Highland has been consistently and systematically closing the gap to National [average] over the last three years culminating in the current year where Highland has achieved its highest attainment for primary aged pupils in every area of literacy and numeracy.
“Highland is also one of the most improved authorities in Scotland across all measures and is the most improved for numeracy across P1, 4 and 7 combined.
“This has been achieved at the same time that over half the local authorities in Scotland have improved by less than one per cent, or in the case of some, have declined in almost every measure.
“Highland’s average increase across all five measures is nearly three per cent (2.77 per cent), which is almost three times better than the national average which is less than one per cent (0.84 per cent).
“In terms of literacy and numeracy this equates to reducing the gap between Highland and National [average] by three per cent and 2 per cent respectively.
“Our rate of improvement over the last two years is also well ahead of the average.
“Literacy improvement over the last two years equates to a 10 per cent increase and is now 12 per cent above pre-Covid figures.
“In Numeracy the improvement over the last two years equates to a six per cent increase and is now a per cent increase on pre-Covid figures.
“Gaelic Literacy has increased by seven per cent from the previous year, now sitting at 75 per cent which is in line with National [average].
“Due to differing local authority contexts care should be taken when comparing local authority increases. The number of pupils impacted by improved attainment figures will vary dramatically in terms of the size of the authority.
“In smaller authorities in particular, percentage increases do not necessarily reflect an increased number of pupils impacted by improved performance.
“Whereas in Highland, due to its size and scale of improvement this year, around 270 more primary aged children achieved literacy compared to the previous year.
“We are very ambitious to continue to advance and to see our relative national position improve but these figures show that we are closing the gap. The rate and trajectory of improvement is very positive – amongst the best in Scotland - and shows that the approach we are taking is making a sustained impact.
Education committee chairman, Cllr John Finlayson said: “I am delighted that the Council’s ACEL attainment statistics continue to improve year on year, and while it has always been stated that this was a journey of improvement, the significant year on year percentage improvements in literacy and numeracy seen since the Covid pandemic is clearly worthy of positive comment.
“There is still work to do but we are certainly on the right track.”
