Scotland's Education Secretary, Mairi McAllan, has been accused of being "in denial" about the state of the nation's schools after declining an offer to learn from England's educational strategies and dismissing expert concerns. The criticism comes as Scottish students lag behind their English counterparts in international assessments.
McAllan stated she is unlikely to accept an offer of help from former UK Education Secretary Lord Michael Gove, citing disagreements over his views on Brexit and welfare reform. When questioned about lessons from England, where schools performed significantly better in recent international rankings, McAllan indicated a preference for learning from education systems "around the world."
Scottish Labour's education spokesman, Katherine Sangster, criticized the Scottish Government's approach. "Parents will be deeply frustrated to hear yet more excuses from another SNP minister on Scotland’s falling education standards," Sangster said. "Alarm bells have been ringing for years about the challenges our schools face, but the SNP show no ambition for our children and no curiosity about what has gone wrong."
Scottish pupils now trail their English peers by more than a year in science and mathematics, according to the 2025 Programme for International Student Assessments (Pisa) study. Following these results, Lord Gove had offered to assist the Scottish government, stating that children had "paid the price" for "ideological fads" and declining discipline.
McAllan acknowledged the need for improvement in Pisa results but expressed openness to learning from international systems to achieve both academic excellence and vocational strengths. She noted potential strengths in both Scotland and England and suggested mutual learning. However, regarding Gove's offer, she stated, "with all respect to him he is not at the top of my list of those to meet and take advice from," citing his role in austerity, welfare reform, and Brexit.
Concerns raised by Professor Lindsay Paterson of Edinburgh University that school attendance in Scotland is becoming "effectively optional" were also dismissed by McAllan. She asserted that attending school is not optional and that parents have a legal obligation to ensure their children receive a sufficient education. She added that attendance rates have increased and that young people must be in school and "attending well."
Lord Gove responded by reiterating his offer. "She did say she wanted to learn from England, and indeed other countries and jurisdictions that are doing better than Scotland is at the moment, and the offer remains open," he said. "I think that when you are a minister you have to follow the evidence, and all the evidence is that during the course of the last 15 years Scotland has moved from having a superior education system, a superior school system, to England to one where it has fallen dramatically behind."
He suggested that factors include issues with Scotland's Curriculum for Excellence, a problem also identified by Professor Paterson. Gove encouraged McAllan to visit successful schools in England to learn from them, even if she preferred not to meet him directly.
