"Scotland's performance in maths and science among 15-year-old school pupils is at a record low according to new statistics. Reading levels - students' ability to understand and evaluate texts - have improved, but are still significantly lower than they were at the start of the millennium..."
"However, the PISA scores were described as proof the government was `failing schools and children`. Scottish Labour’s education spokesperson Iain Gray said: “While Nicola Sturgeon tours the TV studios and election debates boasting of her supposed achievements, the reality is that her so-called priority of education continues a slow decline." "The small improvement in reading is welcome, but further falls in maths and science are alarming. John Swinney and Nicola Sturgeon have been warned again and again that we have a problem with STEM subjects being squeezed out of the curriculum but they refuse to listen. These are the critical skills our next generation need for the jobs of the future..." "`The SNP have abolished most measures of performance in our schools, but they cannot hide from these figures which show they have failed our schools and our children`." "And Liz Smith, Scottish Conservative education spokesperson, said: `This is damning evidence revealing the full extent of the SNP’s shameful 12 years running down Scotland’s schools`." "`After the last set of poor PISA results, the SNP said that the curriculum had to change. Yet these results are a new low and we know there have been many failings within the delivery of the Curriculum for Excellence. It is not just time to change the curriculum but also to change the government in Scotland`." "Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie added: `John Swinney can't hide from these appalling results. Scotland used to have one of the best education systems in the world, but under the SNP its now just average`." https://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/pisa-performance-of-scottish-pupils-in-maths-and-science-at-record-low-1-5056025 Given these concerns the response seems a little skewed:
"The Scottish Government has pledged to invest more than £60 million to create 350 counsellors, ensuring that every high school has counselling services by September. It has also pledged to enhance support and professional learning for teachers on good mental health."
"Professor Harris said: `The focus on health and well-being of young people is critically important so it's not just about academic achievement. That's an area the Scottish Government are focusing on [?] but more can be done. The challenges for young people are acute and extensive so we can always improve things."
"As police admitted for the first time last week that there was an `epidemic` of institutional child sexual abusein church institutions, children’s homes, borstals, schools and foster families in the 1970s and 80s, chief constable Simon Bailey, the national lead for child protection and abuse investigations, said: `We do not understand the true scale of it … untold damage has been done to victims and survivors.` On 11 February a damning report by the all-party parliamentary group on Adult Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse will be highly critical of the support and resources available to these children, now in their 50s, 60s and older, many of whom have spent a lifetime with their experiences not believed and redress unobtainable."
"The report is titled Can Adult Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse Access Justice and Support? and the conclusion is an emphatic `no`. Based on two years’ work, it finds all the major services, including police, health, crown prosecution and courts, are failing to address a potential national crisis, with support services struggling to meet demand."
"The Office for National Statistics estimates that 3.1 million people aged 18-74 were sexually abused in childhood. However, one in seven callers to the helpline of the National Association for People Abused in Childhood hadn’t told anyone before."
