Dr Morton’s body language in response to the question whether we need legislation to close the attainment gap was eloquent.
I am struck that, over the past hour and a half, we have been slightly schizophrenic in our discussion of raising attainment and closing the attainment gap, which are clearly two separate things. I am also struck that that schizophrenia is not limited to the committee: the policy memorandum to the Education (Scotland) Bill, which we will consider shortly, talks of the Government’s
“commitment … to help make Scotland a fairer, more equal place”
through improvement of
“education and attainment for all”,
while the long title of the bill talks about the Scottish Parliament imposing
“duties in relation to reducing pupils’ inequalities of outcome”.
Are we in danger of getting drawn into aspiring to make everybody above average or drawn into some kind of trickle-down attainment economics whereby focusing on raising attainment for everyone will benefit those who are most in need? I notice that, in keeping with his attempt to be controversial, Iain Ellis said in his submission that he agreed
“with Audit Scotland’s view that spending should be targeted on the parents, pupils and schools that need it the most. The focus should not be on raising attainment for all, as this will continue to raise the bar while not addressing the equity gap”.
Are we in danger of spreading ourselves across two almost contradictory objectives?