Excellence in Scottish Education

As an amendment to motion S6M-06102 in the name of Shirley-Anne Somerville (Excellence in Scottish Education), leave out from "recognises that, despite" to end and insert "acknowledges that there has been a failure of leadership from the Scottish Government on education over the last 15 years; believes this has led to little progress being made on closing the stagnating attainment gap, which has not been helped by the Scottish Government confusion on its own targets to close the gap; understands that despite nearly £2 million in Pupil Equity Funding (PEF) being spent on police officers in schools since 2018, Scottish Ministers have had no discussions with Police Scotland or councils to ensure children are not being policed using funds where the purpose is “closing the poverty-related attainment gap”, and calls on the Scottish Government to revise operational guidance for PEF so that the money cannot be used in this way; notes with concern the exodus of staff from private and voluntary nurseries and that one in four nursery teachers have been lost from local authority early learning and childcare (ELC) settings since 2017; further notes with concern that half of two-year-olds from the most disadvantaged backgrounds still are not getting the benefits of the free childcare they are entitled to, and calls on the Scottish Government to do more to publicise the fact that this support is available for families, protect expertise and bring an end to the underfunding of non-council settings, which are essential to the expansion of ELC and giving families choice and flexibility."