Michael Gove offers to help SNP ministers ‘learn from’ English education reforms

Former Tory education secretary Michael Gove has challenged SNP ministers to “learn from what has worked in England” after international education figures showed the performance of pupils in Scotland is behind that of youngsters south of the border.

The ex-MP – who is now a member of the House of Lords – has offered to work with Scottish Education Secretary Màiri McAllan and Public Service Reform Secretary Ivan McKee on changes to Scotland’s schools.

It comes in the wake of the latest results from the Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa), which is carried out by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and looks at the knowledge and skills of 15-year-olds in countries across the world.

The Pisa results put English pupils ahead of their counterparts in Scotland in terms of standards in reading, maths and science.

Lord Gove, who was education secretary between 2010 and 2014, said “Scotland can learn from what has worked in England”, adding this could then be adapted “appropriate to specific Scottish needs”.

Writing in the Times, the Aberdeen-born politician said Scotland’s schools “can recover their reputation for excellence”, adding: “All it will take is a wee bit of humility on the part of the Scottish Government.”

The SNP has pledged to give a free bag containing school essentials to youngsters when they start primary school, but Lord Gove suggested: “Ministers might also find the generosity of spirit to acknowledge that an excellent education could be even more valuable.

“Those of us involved in improving England’s schools stand ready to help.”

Lord Gove claimed that over the past 15 years, Scottish schools have “slipped from outperforming England to lagging firmly behind because Scottish politicians have not used their powers to put evidence – and children – first”.

He accused SNP ministers of having instead “pursued ideological fads that are not rooted in what works”.

Lord Gove has offered to work with Scottish Education Secretary Mairi McAllan. (Jane Barlow/PA)

He contrasted this with England, where he said the school curriculum is “more ambitious, teaching more knowledge”.

Exams south of the border have “become more rigorous”, he said, while coursework has been cut, with head teachers also “freed from bureaucracy”.

Lord Gove said: “In every one of those areas, Scotland has taken a different path, and children have paid the price.”

He added that when he had been education secretary, he had “worked with colleagues across parties in England to improve our schools” – saying he is now happy to work with SNP ministers at Holyrood to help.

“Everyone who wants a better future for Scotland should be willing to work with good people in the Scottish Government,” Lord Gove said.

“I want to think the best of those running the country of my birth, where my mum, sister, nephews and niece still live. So, Màiri, and Ivan, are we on?”

Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay said however that First Minister John Swinney and his “inept” ministers would “recoil from this welcome offer from Michael Gove – who transformed English schools while the SNP was sabotaging the prospects of a generation of young Scots by trashing Scottish education”.

The Scottish Government cited ‘increasing attainment’ in National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher results (PA)

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Mr Findlay added: “The sad truth is that Swinney’s Government would rather keep failing the people of Scotland than change direction by learning from its mistakes.”

A Scottish Government spokesperson stressed the Pisa statistics were only “one lens through which to view our respective education systems”.

They added: “To focus solely on Pisa in Scotland is to exclude from view, among other things, two years of increasing attainment in National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher, our record number of young people going on to ‘positive destinations’ in work study or training when leaving school, the highest ever number of young people in Scotland achieving a place at university this year, and the record number doing so from our most deprived communities.

“Scotland’s education system is achieving both academic excellence and vocational strength and is delivering, alongside record numbers gaining a place at university, employment that is higher and unemployment that is lower than in England for 16 to 24-year-olds.

“Pisa demonstrates Scotland performs significantly above average in reading, science, computational problem solving and environmental science.

“Results show strengths in young people directing their own learning and a weakening of the link between socioeconomic disadvantage and Pisa performance.

“For reading in particular, results demonstrate this link is being broken down more than in any previous Pisa cycle. The attainment gap between the most and least advantaged pupils was smaller in Scotland than England in reading and maths.

“We are clear-eyed about the strengths of our education system and have confidence in the teachers delivering it.

“Nonetheless we are committed to continual improvement, including through the curriculum improvement cycle which is currently under way.”