I read this Substack article from the Scottish Union for Education this morning:
It highlights falling standards but dodges the hard truths. Here's why it's yet another evasion from those who refuse to face the real problems.
Extract:
This is despite the fact that Scottish standards in reading, math and science have been falling, according to the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA).
My response:
I've been sounding the alarm on this for years, with multiple blog articles laying out the evidence. Scotland, England, and the rest of the English-speaking world should hang their heads in shame while Singapore dominates PISA rankings—topping maths, reading, and science in the latest 2022 results. Yet Scottish and English educators remain too arrogant to learn from success. I recently shared links in a discussion with this group on X—they asked for evidence, I provided it, and silence followed. This is my experience since blogging began in 2010: ignore, block, or run. No debate, no humility.
Extract:
Scotland’s progressive, child-centred school curriculum has focused on skills rather than knowledge, and politics has been allowed to creep into Scottish classrooms.
Children in Scotland are no less intelligent or academically capable than children in England or anywhere else in the world.
Teachers in Scotland are no less capable or hardworking than teachers in England or anywhere else in the world.
My response:
This reeks of defensiveness and straw-man excuses. No one claims Scottish children or teachers are inherently inferior—but many are incapable of admitting the catastrophic flaw: wrong teaching of letter sounds shuts down learning and flushes potential out of the system. How many "arrogant" educators grasp that mis-teaching phonics creates artificial barriers, turning capable kids into struggling readers? Stop lecturing the "deaf" with platitudes; no country has cleverer children than another. Teachers aren't "incapable" in effort, but far too many are blind to evidence that proper systematic phonics unlocks reading for nearly all.
Extract:
Nothing that has gone wrong with Scottish education is unique to Scotland. The same trends that have led to declining standards in Scotland were very much present in schools in England before 2010 and are alive and well today in schools in Wales and large parts of America.
My response:
Pathetic. Is Scotland admitting it'll copy failure just because others do? England tried it, Wales clings to it—so Scotland follows suit? Why the hell not benchmark against Singapore, which rejects these "progressive" fads for rigorous, knowledge-based teaching and reaps the rewards?
Extract:
What’s gone wrong with Scottish education?’, I want to focus on two things in particular. First, for several years now, Scotland’s progressive, child-centred school curriculum has focused on skills rather than knowledge and on what children should be able to do rather than what they should know.
But it is worth repeating: neither of these trends is unique to Scotland.
My response:
This article cons the public with half-truths while ignoring the experts who know why kids fail to read. To the teachers and author: stop hiding. Discuss proper phonics openly instead of cowardly deflection. I've blown the conch shell in deaf ears for years—not harsh, just fed up with evasion.
Extract:
It is important to recognise that what has gone wrong in Scottish schools is not unique to Scotland because if we don’t, we risk falling into the trap of thinking that the problems we face stem only from a handful of bad decisions made by Scottish ministers over the past few years. If this were indeed the case, it would be relatively easy to fix Scotland’s schools by simply introducing new policies.
My response:
Endless comparisons and excuses won't reduce illiteracy one bit. Face the evidence: fix foundational reading instruction. Until you debate openly, you're part of the problem.
Extract:
First, let’s face up to the scale of the problem. Back in 2022, the international PISA test results made clear that the performance of Scotland’s pupils in maths, science and reading had been falling for at least 15 years.
My response:
Then explain why Singapore's dyslexia rates are lower (severe cases ~4% vs. UK's persistent ~10%, with many linked to poor early phonics). Read my posts on evidence-based teaching that prevents this.
Extract:
PISA results provide a useful finger-in-the-wind indicator of standards. But they are a snapshot in time and focus on skills – whether children can read, write and add up – rather than what they know.
My response:
Absurd. How can any child gain knowledge without first mastering reading? Fix the broken foundation—systematic phonics—and then preach about "knowledge." Anything else is delusion.
I quit reading halfway through. This is just public-relations talk, dodging the root cause: flawed reading instruction that Singapore avoids through rigour and evidence. Time for accountability, not excuses.
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