Education and Social Mobility

Corri Wilson Excerpts

Tuesday 22nd November 2016 Commons Chamber

[Corri Wilson (Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock) (SNP)]

The evidence about the adverse effects of poverty on educational attainment and achievement is undeniable. My constituency has one of the highest child poverty rates in Scotland. In some parts of my constituency, one in three children are living in poverty. Data from the 10-year study “Growing Up in Scotland” show that children living in poverty are much more likely than others to face social, emotional and behavioural difficulties, to be overweight and to have multiple other problems. All those factors will have an impact on their future attainment and achievement.

Poverty ruins childhoods and reduces life chances. I am proud that the Scottish Government are focusing on closing the attainment gap and that the First Minister has made education a priority. A higher percentage of entrants to Scottish universities are from our poorest communities. The gap in academic achievement between our 20% most deprived pupils and our 20% least deprived pupils has reduced. The gap between those from the most and least deprived communities in positive school-leaver destinations is narrowing. Part of that is down to the fantastic work of many of our universities and colleges, which are working on positive routes into higher education. I pay particular tribute to Ayrshire College, Scotland’s Rural College and the University of the West of Scotland, all of which have campuses in my constituency, for the efforts that they have made to encourage and support students in the transition between further and higher education.

In Scotland, we are far from complacent on this issue. More needs to be done, and more is being done. When we see the attainment gap starting long before children get to school, it is clear we need to focus on early learning and education. While the UK Government pursue their damning and divisive obsession with grammar schools, the Scottish Government are doing everything possible to ensure that each child has access to the same opportunities, no matter what their background is.

[Angela Crawley (Lanark and Hamilton East) (SNP)]

Does my hon. Friend agree that the education system in Scotland, which prioritises the ability to learn, not the ability to pay, enables more students to attend university because their tuition fees are covered by the Scottish Government, whereas the English system denies students that opportunity?

[Corri Wilson]

I agree 100% with what my hon. Friend says.

Our curriculum for excellence is combining academic excellence with the attitudes and skills for success, and it is giving young people the opportunity to gain vocational qualifications without being seen as second best. In Scotland, we are making progress on ensuring that every child has the ability to reach their full potential—from baby boxes to free university tuition, we are working hard to improve life chances and aid social mobility—but, ultimately, our efforts in the education system are tackling a symptom not the cause of inequality.

The Prime Minister has said that her Government are committed to fighting injustice wherever it arises. A substantial body of research shows that poverty has a devastating impact on the lives of young people across the UK. We live in a society where the rich enjoy the trappings of wealth and the poor rely on food parcels from charities. Far from fighting injustice, this Government are driving people further into poverty while offering to syphon off a few of the brightest poor kids for a place in their grammar schools and pretending that that is equality. A two-tier system is totally unacceptable.

Childcare Bill [Lords]

Corri Wilson Excerpts

Wednesday 25th November 2015 Commons Chamber

[Corri Wilson (Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock) (SNP)]

The Under-Secretary of State for Education, Lord Nash, stated in the other place that this Government are committed to supporting working families and that their focus is

“unashamedly on children and their parents.”—[Official Report, House of Lords, 14 October 2015; Vol. 765, c. 238.]

I have some issues with that statement. Unlike this Government, the SNP is committed to improving and increasing high-quality, flexible early learning and childcare which is accessible and affordable for all children and families, not just those lucky enough to be in work. The Scottish Government-funded study “Growing Up in Scotland” tracks the lives of thousands of children and their families from the early years, through childhood and beyond. The main aim of the study is to provide new information to support policy making in Scotland. The most recent report has shown that, at age five, children in the highest income group are around 13 months ahead in vocabulary and 10 months ahead in problem solving ability.

It is clear that the attainment gap in education faced by children from poorer families is already established before they even get to school. That is why the SNP Government have put in place an ambitious plan backed by £100 million of funding to close that attainment gap. Early intervention has been shown to have a positive impact. However, this Bill, while providing welcome support for children of working families, can serve only to widen the attainment gap for children from families where one or more parents are unemployed.

Nursery education is not just about helping parents back into work; it is about giving children the best start in life. Providing access to high-quality early-years education for children from deprived backgrounds is the most effective way to reduce that gap in attainment. That is why, in Scotland, we have already announced plans to double childcare provision to 30 hours a week for all three and four-year-olds and vulnerable two-year-olds.

[Michelle Donelan]

Will the hon. Lady give way?

[Corri Wilson]

I want to make some progress, if the hon. Lady does not mind.

To truly focus unashamedly on children, the Government should be using this Bill to improve outcomes for all children, especially those who are more vulnerable or disadvantaged, and to support parents to work, train or study, especially those who need routes into sustainable employment and out of poverty. Instead, the Bill excludes the children of families where a parent is out of work or using volunteering as a route back into employment, and it could negatively impact on those whose parents are on zero-hours contracts and are unable to work the number of hours per week required to qualify.

The SNP is determined that every child in every community should have every chance to succeed at school and in life. Delivering the best start in children’s lives starts well before they reach school, which is why tackling inequalities sits at the heart of our agenda. Our vision is to make Scotland the best place in the world to grow up, by improving outcomes and reducing inequalities for all. However, our efforts are being hampered by the callousness of the UK Government’s measures, which are designed to hurt the incomes—and, consequently, the standard of living—of children in low-income families.

The Scottish Government are continuing to protect Scotland’s children from Westminster’s austerity measures by ensuring that once a child becomes eligible for early learning and childcare, they will stay eligible, even if their parents’ employment status or rights to benefits change. We will protect this essential support for many vulnerable children in Scotland, which is welcome in my constituency, which has areas of high unemployment and poverty.

This Government might think that their focus is on children, but their Bill clearly shows that they care only about meeting the needs of some children, and not necessarily those who need our support the most. It will do nothing to provide the universality, flexibility or quality that the SNP is focused on delivering in Scotland, and it will almost certainly see children from more disadvantaged households slip further behind in attainment levels by the time they start school at five. We are committed to getting it right for every child. Will the Government confirm that they are?

Term-time Leave

Corri Wilson Excerpts

Monday 26th October 2015 Westminster Hall

[Corri Wilson (Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock) (SNP)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship for the rest of this debate, Mr Hanson. I also thank the hon. Member for St Austell and Newquay (Steve Double) for introducing the debate; excellent points have been made throughout it.

The petition was brought about as a result of regulations that were first laid before Parliament on 4 April 2013. They went through Parliament on the nod, but fortunately constituents have a mechanism through which they can express concerns. Once again, we have to commend the e-petition process for bringing constituents closer to the workings of Parliament. It is a far cry from the modern processes in Holyrood—but I will leave the intricate details of modernising this House’s parliamentary procedures to more experienced Members.

Making sure pupils are included, engaged and involved in their education is fundamental to achievement and attainment in school, and ultimately to the economic prosperity of both the child and the nation. It is important that schools and parents continue to do all they can to ensure good attendance. We know that the impact of non-attendance at school and non-engagement with learning significantly increases the likelihood of young people leaving school and not going on to further education, employment or training.

I appreciate the concerns that many parents have about the rising costs of package holidays as soon as schools shut down for the summer. That is why the Scottish Government back the lowering and eventual scrapping of air passenger duty; it will benefit thousands of families across Scotland and allow cheaper holidays during school holidays. However, it is not only the tour operators who capitalise on the sudden demand created by a six-week window to spend time with our children; suddenly, we see the cost of car hire, holiday parks and recreational facilities all jump for the holiday. As we have heard, we must recognise that modern living is complex. The value of a family holiday should not be underestimated, whether taken at home or abroad.

In our busy modern world, families need to make a concerted effort to make time for one another. The days of workplaces closing down for trades fortnights are long gone, and many families shuffle shift patterns and annual leave to cover school runs and the various school holidays. Many mums and dads are like ships that pass in the night, juggling work commitments and childcare. Cost is not always the main factor when parents are making decisions about withdrawing their child from school for some family time. As has been mentioned, it should be noted that holidays can sometimes in themselves be a learning experience. The categorisation of most term-time holidays as unauthorised absence has been a contentious issue for some families. If we have no control over the pricing decisions of holiday companies or flight operators, our main focus must be to encourage parents and pupils to recognise the value of learning and the pitfalls of disrupting learning for the pupil, the rest of the class and the teacher.

It is for schools and education authorities to judge what sanctions, if any, they wish to apply to unauthorised absence due to holidays. I hope that common sense would prevail in those circumstances. Family holidays should not be recorded as authorised absence except in exceptional domestic circumstances, where a family needs time together to recover from distress or where the nature of a parent’s employment means that school holiday leave cannot be accommodated—for example, when parents are in the armed services or, indeed, when parents spend their weekdays here in Parliament, where English school holidays are accommodated but Scottish school holidays are not.

The Scottish Government are not keen on parents taking children out of school during term time. Their attendance guidelines say that schools will not normally give permission unless there are exceptional circumstances. In Scotland, local authorities hold the power to act against parents. As has been mentioned, regional variations can work. It should be for local authorities and schools to judge when those circumstances apply and authorise absence accordingly. It is a concern that in the last academic year alone, more than 50,000 penalty notices were issued in England because of children being taken out of lessons for trips. The areas with the highest number of penalty notices include some of the most deprived in the country. We need to ask ourselves this question: do we really want to be causing additional hardship to struggling families who merely seek a better work-life balance?