Friday Five: SQA results, strikes, child poverty, violence, teachers’ pay

1. Attainment gap in Scotland widens with this year’s SQA exam results

With pass rates down, the attainment gap in Scotland is now wider than it has been at any point since 2019, TES analysis has shown. The Higher A-C pass rate was 74.9 percent this year, down from 77.1 percent last year, and A-C rates have also fallen for National 5 and Advanced Higher exams. The attainment gap at Higher level is now 17.2 percent and at Advanced Higher level 15.5 percent – again higher than any time since 2019. A variety of factors could be behind this decline, including long-term impacts of COVID-19 lockdowns, and the greater number of Scottish students taking vocational training routes.

More analysis is here.

2. Government committed to removing ‘vindictive’ strike act

Deputy prime minister Angela Rayner has reiterated the Government’s intentions to repeal the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023, which effectively prevented school staff from striking. Education Secretary Gillian Keegan has said repealing the Act would ‘help us protect children and young people’s education whilst balancing an individual’s right to strike.’ The move has been praised by the teaching unions: NAHT general secretary Paul Whiteman ‘welcomed’ the move, adding ‘the ability to freely express an opinion or campaign for change… is a fundamental right in the workplace.’

Read more on this story here.

3. Sobering new data on the geographical disparities of child poverty in the UK

Nearly half of all children in Birmingham, Tower Hamlets, Manchester, Sandwell, Stoke, Oldham, Wolverhampton, and Walsall live in poverty, as per a briefing published this week by the Resolution Foundation. The Midlands, the North West, and Scotland are the areas which have seen the biggest growth in child poverty over the last decade. The changes form part of a changing picture of the UK’s geographic inequalities.

The full briefing is here.

4. Chartered College of Teaching calls for teacher working group in the wake of racist violence

The Chartered College of Teaching has called on the Government to establish an ‘urgent’ teacher working group following racist violence which has erupted across England and Northern Ireland over the last week. The working group would be tasked with looking at ‘what schools can do,’ and ‘what support they need’ to address ‘urgent social issues’ in the country. The call comes as a growing number of groups have warned of the potential social and wellbeing issues the violence could cause.

Read more here. 

5. TES analysis looks at what the teachers’ pay rise means in real terms

Following Rachel Reeves’ announcement that she ‘accepts in full’ the recommended, above inflation, 5.5 percent pay increase for teachers, TES analysis has looked at how the new starting salary of £31,650 sits in the real terms context of the last two decades. While the new median starting salary is certainly a real term increase on the previous three years, adjusted for inflation the salary is still lower than the median starting salary in 2020, which was £31,705 in today’s money. It’s also far lower than the 2007, pre-financial crash peak of £33,003 in 2007.

Full analysis is here.

That’s all for this week! If you found this blog useful, please be sure to share/tweet it and follow @theCfEY, @conorcarleton, and @Barristotle for future editions.