ENSURING that every Scottish child can read and write should be the SNP’s target for 2020 rather than another independence referendum, Nicola Sturgeon will be told this week, writes Jason Allardyce.
As the Scottish parliament returns after the summer recess, the first minister will place plans to improve educational attainment in her new programme for government — with a form of national testing expected to enable comparison of the progress of pupils across the country.
But Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson will argue that she must do much more to get a grip on the classroom problems by ensuring that all student teachers are adequately prepared to teach literacy.
It follows evidence that some training institutions only dedicate a quarter of the time to literacy teaching compared to those in England.
Davidson said: “The Scottish government this coming year will be judged by its record, priorities and by its focus. Nicola Sturgeon can demonstrate she has the right priorities by making it her mission to ensure that every child, no matter their circumstances, leaves primary school able to read and write well.
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“And she can show she has the right focus by guaranteeing that she won’t drag Scotland back into the constitutional cul-de-sac of another referendum on independence.”
As she heads towards an election year, Sturgeon said she was “extremely proud” of the SNP government’s record since 2007.“In a range of key areas that make a real difference to people’s lives the progress we have made has been substantial,“ she said.