Statement: Raising Standards and Delivering Excellence for Every Child - 02 September 2026

The next item of business is a statement from Mari McCallen on raising standards and delivering excellence for every child. Questions will be taken at the end of the statement. So there should be no interventions or interruptions. Mari McCallum. Thank you, presiding officer. Yesterday, the first minister set out the first program for government of this new parliament. It is confident, ambitious, and it has improving people's lives as its driving mission. That is very much aligned to the leadership that I wish to offer as education secretary, guided always by the pursuit of excellence and equity. In just a few months since being appointed, I've already been confronted by so much about which we should be proud. And we need only look at results day this year. Academic attainment increased again at national 5 higher and advanced higher. Grades in national 5 and higher increased and an additional 1,000 candidates entered for advanced hires. The poverty related attainment gap narrowed further this year in national five higher and advanced higher and is lower than prepandemic levels in 2019. And I welcome similar increases in both pass rates and the percentage of a grades across national five and higher. compared to last year for learners with additional support needs. Importantly, alongside that strong academic excellence, this year we saw a further surge in vocational awards. That was a breakthrough increase in vocational subjects like journalism, child care, personal finance and construction. Awards like these presiding officer are preparing young people for the world of work and they are 121% higher than in 2019. So this mix of academic and vocational excellence is helping to deliver a joint record number of young people in positive destinations nine months after leaving school and a twothirds reduction in the poverty related attainment gap for initial school levers. On results day I was also delighted to receive UKcast statistics which show record numbers of young people being accepted into university in Scotland and historic levels of young people doing so from our most deprived backgrounds. that is excellence and equity in practice presiding officer and this principle that we must remove the barriers to an excellent ed education is fundamental to the government's mission it's why we are rolling out breakfast clubs in every primary school and continuing expansion of free school meals in that regard I'm pleased to announce up to 2.8 8 million pounds today to help local authorities address school meal debt. It's why we are reducing the cost of the school day with the school clothing grant and delivering our new welcome to school bag for 47,000 primary ones starting next year. Presiding officer, there is so much to celebrate in our education system. And I want to put on record my thanks to the teaching workforce, to parents and carers, and to young people themselves for all their hard work and commitment. However, now and across the coming term, we have to confront the challenges that remain. A stubborn attainment gap, unwarranted variation in outcomes across the country, lingering COVID impacts, and new challenges in a changing world, including the impact of smartphones in young people's lives. So, I want to set out my ambition for excellence and equity in school education and describe in early course just some of the reforms that I believe are necessary to achieve it. in the classroom themsel itself. Uh few things are more important than the interconnected ABCs attainment, attendance, behavior and curriculum. On attainment, I will continue our mission to reduce the poverty related attainment gap. Central to this is empowering schools to respond to their pupil's needs and to invest strategically to overcome those barriers. I've seen firsthand the difference that pupil equity funding is having. We're investing 200 million pounds this year and I confirm that I'm committed to continuing funding to head teachers to tackle the poverty related disadvantage in ways that best suit their schools. Overcoming barriers to an excellent education also means attending to varying additional support needs. I want to make sure that wholesome and predictable support is available for teachers, children, and their families so that needs are both identified and met as soon as possible. That's why I intend to deliver the six recommendations of the McManus review over this parliamentary term. Two days ago, I published a root map for a national staged intervention model, the first milestone in this process. This model will provide consistency of support for children regardless of whereabouts and prioritize early intervention. It will be developed with Cosla and schools and will declutter a complex landscape bringing simplicity and predictability. To improve attainment, we must also ensure that attendance is high and absence is minimized. The pandemic and cost of living pressures have been affecting attendance. We know that some families uh their relationship with school has changed and that more pupils have found it more challenging to attend. So, we're taking a range of actions to overcome this through bespoke resources and support for councils, for families, and for schools, improved data, and a national uh media campaign. I'm pleased that statistics in the last two years show attendance up and persistence absence coming down. Uh this work and that of the stage national staged intervention model which I also hope can support attendance. They will continue and I will very closely monitor progress. Turning to behavior I want to be clear from the outset that the vast majority of children and young people are well behaved and conscientious in school and I am proud of them. Equally, I want to be clear that violence and aggression of any kind has no place in our schools and will be dealt with. The behavior in Scottish schools research, which provides a nationally representative picture of what's happening in our schools, showed that the majority of staff report children are generally well behaved most or all of the time in class and around the school. However, Besser research also showed increases in low-level disruption, of disengagement, and of serious disruptive behavior, particularly since the pandemic. Reports of violence are mostly in our primary schools and mostly in our youngest children in primaries one to three. So, this is why we continue to work with partners on imple implementing our national action plan to address key areas of concern for our youngest pupils. In the coming months, we will complete work on principles for recording and monitoring of behavior and incidents, and we will update our national guidance on exclusions. In Bisser, secondary school teachers highlighted mobile phones as the behavior having the biggest impact on their teaching. In recent years, we have seen a significant intensification of young people's use of mobile phones and at increasingly young ages. I'm very concerned about the educational impact of this as well as the social and emotional implications. So with this in mind, Parliament is aware of the decisive work I'm taking forward to end the presence of mobile phones in a learning environment for good. A consultation on legislation opened on the 25th of August during recess and will run for 12 weeks and I would strongly encourage participation from colleagues. I intend to bring forward legislation soon thereafter so that as quickly as possible our young people can learn and our teachers can teach free from the relentless distraction of electronic notifications. As part of our public health approach to online harm last week we launched a marketing campaign on online safety and we're ensuring that young people know how to confront misogynistic and hateful behavior through our support of the digital discourse initiative. And as the first minister made very clear yesterday, in respect to violence against women and girls, we all must play our part in tackling that. And I'm sure we would all agree across the chamber, education is central. Ultimately, presiding officer, I think the time has come to draw a line in the sand on intense exposure of children and young people to smartphones. And I want to use my time as education secretary to, among other things, lead some of that work. Another change I will be pleased to oversee is in the last of our ABCs in curriculum. The curriculum improvement cycle represents the largest ever reform to curriculum for excellence. It will clarify the role of knowledge across our curriculum and make clearer uh a pupil's progression through learning providing certainty on how to approach key topics including language and maths. This approach is informed by international practice to drive excellence. It's being developed with the profession and it has my full support because I believe it's necessary. The initial development work is needing completion and further materials will be shared in the autumn further to those which we published earlier in the summer. I will ensure that it builds on the results of Scotland's participation in PISA 2025, the results of which will be published next week. And just as important as developing the reformed curriculum is making sure that teachers are supported to digest and to use it. We're taking a staggered approach to ensure readiness and inservice time coupled with structured support will be offered to ensure that it's understood and embedded successfully. And as we deliver curriculum reform uh with our teaching workforce, we will also be taking forward reduced class contact time from 22 and a half hours per week to 21, ensuring teachers have more protected time to focus on planning and delivering high quality learning. Having listened to voices consistently highlighting a lack of job certainty offered by their local authority employers, we'll also deliver the reforms that are needed to provide a teacher job guarantee for a minimum of three years for newly qualified teachers. We'll also shortly bring forward plans to help primary teachers who want to to transition into new roles and we'll strengthen career opportunities and support for pupil support assistance. And whilst that work is ongoing, I'm pleased today to announce a new 1 million pounds teacher recruitment assistance fund to support the recruitment and retention in our of teachers in our rural and island communities with practical support, including housing support. Presiding officer, as well as the considerable work I've set out above, we must seize the opportunity of public service reform to truly achieve excellence and equity. This to my mind must mean addressing the variability in education outcomes across the country where that's unwarranted. Uh improving data collection, enhancing performance and accountability and empowering headteers and schools. We must also address unnecessary bureaucracy and as an early commitment to that I've instructed my officials to ensure that government guidance where it's issued uh which in my view has become too long and repetitious will be significantly streamlined with precise and concise communication that teachers can more readily navigate. I look forward to engagement with the profession with Cosla and with trade unions as we seize the opportunity of public service reform to deliver meaningful improvements in people's lives. Treading off. In conclusion, our education system I believe represents the opportunity of a lifetime for our children and young people. It's an incredibly precious institution and in the way set in this statement and in more, I very much look forward to working with Parliament to ensure that equity and excellence can be a reality for every child in Scotland. Thank you. I will allow 20 minutes for this cabinet secretary to answer questions on the issues raised. Members wishing to ask a question should press the request to speak buttons now. Angela Ross. >> Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. The government talks about closing the attainment gap and after two decades that remains stubblingly wide. For all the strategies, incentives um announcements, the child's background still plays far too great a role in determining this outcome and their outcome. Indeed, you celebrate uh the highest number of people from deprived backgrounds going to university. However, the same UKcast data you refer to has shown that white workingclass boys are the least likely to go to university. When we look at non uh free school meal pupils, 45% go on to higher education by 19. That drops to 26% for disadvantaged students. and it drops again to 13% for those male white British workingclass free school meal pupils. Can I ask in the spirit of equity and e excellence in action what the Scottish government will do to address this? >> Questions and answers must be concise. Cabinet Secretary. >> Thank you presiding officer. Um I I should just say from the offset that my concern to pursue equity and excellence in Scotland's education system is not seen through the lens of nationality and therefore I will h not be responding directly to the points about people's uh nationality that were put to me there. However, for the cohort of our young people as a whole there there is extensive evidence to point to that progress is being made. Our achievement of curriculum for excellence levels data demonstrates that attainment in literacy and numeracy is at record level in primary and secondary and that the attainment poverty related attainment gap is at record lows. I spoke in my statement about positive destinations and that twothird reduction in the uh positive destination status of our initial levers h when it comes to the poverty related attainment gap and I also have to point to UKcast statistics from results day which demonstrated that record number of young people in Scotland from the most deprived backgrounds going on to university. So there is uh there is demonstrable progress on the poverty related attainment gap and yet considerable work still to do and I'm keen to work with colleagues on it. >> Captain Sangster. >> Thank you deputy proiding officer. I'd like to thank the cabinet secretary for advanced notice of her statement and like the cabinet secretary I'd like to congratulate all our young people for the results over the summer. But our young people have the right to learn without disruption. So the reports of disruptive behavior in schools particularly primary schools are deeply disturbing. The teachers union, the NESWT say that nearly three quarters of teaching staff have been verbally abused and nearly a quarter physically abused. Given the urgency of the situation, will the cabinet secretary commit to making the implementation of the national action plan on relationships and behavior mandatory across all schools? And will there be a requirement to publish robust data? New guidance is very welcome, but that alone won't address the crisis. Schools need resources. What resources will the cabinet secretary be providing to support this new guidance? >> Cabinet Secretary, thanks Presiding officer and uh I would restate what I did in my statement, namely that um the vast majority of our pupils are well behaved and conscientious, but that doesn't mean for a moment that we don't try and tackle episodes of poor behavior where it emerges. H not just for um our teaching workforce who deserve to be able to go to work free from aggression and violence, but equally for our young people who who can't learn well when they're engaged in in such behavior. She mentions our the 20 actions of our behavior and relationships action plan. We are absolutely driving that forward. One aspect of that was about uh enhanced guidance on mobile phones in schools. Well, that has moved on considerably actually since the guidance h sorry since the action plan was initially uh released to the extent that we're now taking a national approach and the research that particularly secondary teachers have um fed back to us says to me that that will make a big difference about um behavior in in in schools but I think what I have to emphasize is the government is absolutely here to support education authorities and schools to deal with these matters but these al also have to be dealt with in a person- centered way that understands the reasons in a young person's life that is driving disruptive behavior. So, we will take decisive national action like that of the mobile phones spans will support our schools and councils with guidance and with resources but equally it's person- centered work with families with young people and that needs to be done at school level. Patricia Gibson. Um I welcome the cabinet secretary statement today with its range of measures to deliver excellence for children building on the ambition ambitious plans to expand early learning education which is ex especially important for children from more disadvantaged backgrounds helping to narrow the developmental gap that often emerges even before formal schooling begins. But what role does the cabinet secretary think the success of expanding early learning will play in the Scottish government's ultimate success in continuing to narrow the poverty related attainment gap? >> Cabinet Secretary, >> thank Patricia Gibson for the question and I'm accompanied today by my colleague the children's minister Siobhan Bryan and her and I work very closely together on the interplay between children's early years and and their success in education. And of course that was one of the driving missions. Our understanding of the importance and the formative early years was one of the driving missions behind the expansion to 1140 that we have completed. And indeed it's behind our intention to now uh transform the child care and early learning offer in Scotland to be available from uh 9 months old right up to primary 7. And our program for government yesterday spoke uh gave a little more detail on that including some of the stages that we will uh roll it out with including breakfast clubs and after school clubs. But we are absolutely cleareyed on the importance of formative early years of meaningful and supportive early learning h support for young people. But equally the importance of child care for families to support particularly mothers uh to return to work should they wish to to extend their hours. um and to to facilitate that for families. >> Laura Midi, >> a heavy focus of both the program for government and the cabinet secretary statement has rightly been on reducing child poverty and the poverty related attainment gap. One simple way that we can support families with rising cost of living is by cutting the cost of school uniforms. In the last session, Scottish Greens worked with the Scottish government to deliver updated guidance, which makes school uniforms more accessible and affordable, but councils are currently under no obligation to follow that guidance. Can I ask the cabinet secretary if she knows how many councils have already adopted the guidance and to explore ways that it could be made statutory as soon as possible? Cabinet Secretary, as um education authorities, it is for councils to decide and to be held to account on the decisions that they make uh in their in their own area. However, uh clearly the Scottish government is very keen to support schools and and children and families with the cost of school uniforms. Um that's why we provide the school clothing grant and why we have committed to uprate that which h will be taken forward. I um believe strongly in the importance of uniform as an equalizing h measure in the classroom and I believe strongly in supporting families uh to be able to afford it. But when it comes to the question of h compelling local authorities to take certain approaches given their role as education authority that wouldn't be appropriate for me to do. >> Megan Gallagher. >> Thank you presiding officer. The cabinet secretary has promised school bags for 47,000 primary one pupils next year. Yet this policy didn't get one single mention in the program for government yesterday. Teachers and parents are already asking why this money isn't going directly into classrooms to close the attainment gap. So has the cabinet secretary consulted teachers before announcing this policy? How much will it cost taxpayers? And after previous failures on laptops and bikes, why should anyone believe this promise will actually be delivered? >> Cabinet Secretary. Well, I think that's a particularly cynical way to frame supporting fouryear-olds in our country to feel that they belong and that they are ready for school on an equal footing to everybody else. I would also draw her attention. I don't know whether Megan Gallagher opted in to use her baby box when like me she managed to balance being an MSP and having having a wee one. But as we know that's not just about providing the practical support that families needs, but it's about saying that you belong in this community similarly to everybody else. But I would, as she as she decides to focus on one policy to the exclusion of all others, I would remind her of free school meals, the school uniform uh grant that we've just been talking about, and of course that Scottish child payment available only in Scotland and driving down child poverty. >> Duncan Dunlop. >> Thank you, presiding officer, Cabinet Secretary. Thank you for advanced sight of your statement. I'm afraid there is little of substance that is new in this statement that will focus on making a difference where we need it. In this regard, in the last session, the education committee found that the majority of pupils with additional support needs were not having their needs met. Pupil support assistance are crucial in this regard. I met a parent over the summer who told me after borders council pulled direct access to pupil support assistance in their child's classroom, the child's learning behavior deteriorated and the whole class was disrupted. So, will the Scottish government adopt the Scottish Liberal Democrat plan to hire 2,000 more pupil support assistants across the country? >> Cabinet Secretary, thank Duncan Dunlop for his question and uh I would draw him to the remarks in my statement on the Scottish attainment challenge and pupil equity funding that is is connected to that. The Scottish Attainment Challenge has been one of the most breakthrough uh approaches in education in Scotland in the last 1015 years where we have very confidently agreed on the links between soio economic disadvantage and attainment and sought to break that and of course it has that added value of going straight into schools so that they can decide how best to uh use it in their area. So I would draw him to my remarks on pupil equity funding in the statement and my uh intention to continue supporting schools with that. He also mentioned rightly the need to provaged intervention model and the root map that was published two days ago about taking forward that critical work. 15 members asked if they could ask a question to the cabinet secretary for this statement and we only have 20 minutes. So both questions and answers will need to be shorter if we're to take even a proportion of those 15. Katy Hagman, I thank the cabinet secretary and I think the school meal debt and the digital discourse initiatives are going to have a profound impact. So I thank her for that. But I do think it's important to acknowledge the further progress we wish to see in supporting learning experiences of pupils with neurodyiverse conditions. Can I ask the cabinet secretary what mandatory training is available in schools and for teachers and how the Scottish government is engaging with stakeholders and organizations to support children and young people some of which may be awaiting diagnosis. >> Cabinet Secretary. >> Thanks Presiding Officer and um I thank Ky Hagman for her question. It's worth saying from the outset that whilst we recognize that a diagnosis is important and helpful for children, young people and their families in Scotland, our statuto frameworks mean that a formal diagnosis is not a prerequisite for support. Um, on her question, the direct question about mandatory training. All teachers undertake ASN training during initial teacher education and this is a a requirement to meet the professional standards for registration with the general teaching council of Scotland and I have already mentioned a few times h presiding officer so for brevity I would just mention again the work on the national stage intervention model as being a critical next step. David Kirkwood. >> Thank you, President Nler. I thank the cabinet secretary for advanced sight of the statement um and heartily endorse our ambition to deliver excellence in education. However, I was contacted by a primary teacher in central Scotland who told me that our uh annual allocation of stationary for this year was 23 pencils for our class of 29 plus two rubbers and three pencil sharpeners. That's 8/10 of a pencil per child. to even attempt to deliver excellence. Should we not first try to deliver basics? >> Cabinet Secretary. Um, well, I mean, absolutely. There's there's no doubt that young people need these materials in order to engage fulsomely in the class. I would maybe draw a bit of a comparison between Mr. Kirkwood's question and that from Megan Gallaer where the government stepping in to provide such materials was being um criticized. But what I would say if he wants to furnish me with the details, I think he just said central Scotland, but if he wants to let me know the local authority area, I'm very happy to look into it. But as a point of principle, yes, these materials have to be provided. >> Steven Bonner. >> Thank you very much, Brazilian officer, and uh thank the cabinet secretary for a very encouraging statement today. And can I ask what progress has been made in improving educational outcomes for children and young people with additional support needs and what further action the government will take including through partnership working with third sector organizations such as Belol and Mossen's YMCA Y connect program >> cabinet secretary um just on the point about the third sector um I would absolutely say that the joined up approach between statutory services and education services with our third sector and the relational support that they can quite uniquely provide is I think a recipe h for success and really important in in education. Um in respect of outcomes for children, young people with additional support needs. Well, the recent attainment data shows improved uh performance for learners with additional support needs. H and as I said in my statement, the attainment gap has narrowed over the longer term h with positive uh postschool destinations remaining high, but there is always more to do. Jenny Young, >> I thank the cabinet secretary for advanced out of her statement and we certainly share that ambition that our schools and our education system need to be better so that our kids have a brighter future and more opportunities. But having listened to her statement, I am concerned that we are just looking at more of the same. So on teacher recruitment in rural and island communities for more than 20 years, we've had a scheme which now offers £8,000 to new teachers willing to go to these communities. But that hasn't solved the problem evidently. So can she explain why a new fund of a million pounds will achieve a different outcome? And on primary teachers, uh the cabinet secretary said helping newly qualified primary teachers who want to transition into new roles. Can she just clarify whether that is new teaching posts and if so where they will be found or if she's suggesting that these teachers should just give up and retrain. >> Cabinet Secretary, just to clarify on on the last point, first of all, it's within education. So I mentioned that we're taking forward um reduced class contact time that will I think h create the need for additional teaching posts. We also know that as we've been discussing a lot this afternoon, there are increasing additional support needs in our education system. And I'm interested in the extent to which primary teachers who may not be able to find a job, some of which have sat in my constituency office and told me about it, might be interested in retraining and repositioning in a high school partic potentially in a additional support for learning role. But that is all to be developed and Jenny Young is perfectly able to be involved in that and I'll be glad to work with her on it. Just in our point on on reform, I I have to say and just put on the record the single largest reform to curriculum for excellence since it was introduced is not more of the same. The right to be heard is a core principle of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which emphasizes the importance of including children in decision-making processes, recognizing their evolving capacities, and the need for their opinions to be valued to build resilience, protect from harm, and improve care and learning. So, can the minister say how they intend to ensure that children's voices are indeed heard when raising standards and delivering excellence for every child? >> Cabinet Secretary um presiding officer, I believe very strongly in engaging our children and young people in decisions about what that affect their lives and it's not just a belief, it's something that we have incorporated into domestic law in Scotland through the UNCRC. And a really good example of that in practice is the government's determination to end the distraction of mobile phones in the learning environment. But being very conscious that young people have in the last 10-15 years become accustom to a mobile phone, a smartphone being part of their lives. So their views and their insights will be critical in driving that work and the children's minister and I are taking that forward. Holly Bruce >> pupils cannot learn when they are hungry and I am proud that the Green secured a pilot of free school meals for 6,000 young people in S1 to3 across eight local authorities. But I am concerned that as of June, this pilot will end. Will the cabinet extra commit to reinstating free school meals to previously eligible pupils as well as continuing the expansion to more secondary pupils so no one goes through the school day hungry? Cabinet Secretary um free school meals in Scotland are already universally provided to primary 1 to five and to eligible children and young people from primary six to Essex. The test of change uh project that Holly Bruce refers to was just that. It was about gathering research on uh taking forward the government's intention to expand free school meals. Um the outcomes of that is currently being analyzed and I'll be very pleased to to keep Miss Bruce up to date on that. But I would also h emphasize the government's intention to continue our roll out of free school meals from an already high position of provision. >> Alan Brown. >> Thank you. In terms of excellence, I want to firstly pay tribute to my constituent, Ethan Chan, who's just set the Scottish record by achieving an amazing nine advanced hires. So, he's one of a record number of university entrance while the the highest number of occasional qualifications achieved to date obviously has helped deliver the 93.5% positive destinations outcome. But how do we ensure the Scottish government investment in young people allows them to fulfill their potential and that they don't become economically inactive at a later date? It's a challenge for some of my other constituents. >> Cabinet Secretary. >> Well, that's an incredibly impressive uh report card from um Mr. Brown's constituent. And I I suppose I should just put on record that not only the government's amazement at those nine advanced hires, but also our h sincere congratulations. I was so proud on results day to be able to speak to both an increase in academic attainment right across the board from our young people but also that that sat beside a surge in vocational excellence as well in classes like child care construction journalism personal financing finances preparing our young people for the world of work that combination demonstrates the breadth and strength of our educational h system in Scotland and I just put on record my astonishment ment at Mr. Brown's constituents results and well done to them. >> That concludes the ministerial statement on raising standards and delivering excellence for every child and I apologize to those members that it was unable to call. Um, the next item of business is a debate on motion