Christina spoke in the debate on 14 January.
“I welcome the report of Labour’s literacy commission. Indeed, I am delighted to find my Labour Party colleagues so intent on making such a positive contribution to the education debate. I hope that they will be similarly constructive in all our other public policy debates…
“I pay tribute to the commission for producing a concise report of 24 pages from tip to tail. If more of the documents that we got were as brief, we might save a forest or two. That said, although I welcome the report and the contribution that it will make to the debate, I have a couple of queries that I hope the sponsoring Labour members will be able to clear up, and one small point of disagreement…
“Reluctantly, I must take issue with the comment in the introduction that Scotland has “tolerated the intolerable” and accepted the fact that some youngsters leave school “functionally illiterate”. I simply do not believe that. A quick search on the Scottish Government website reveals that concerns about literacy rates were raised and action taken as far back as 1999. The actions that Scottish Government ministers have taken since 2007 to improve literacy mirror the efforts made by previous Administrations and their education ministers. Indeed, the literacy commission refers to one of the fruits of the efforts of the first Scottish Executive: the 2001 publication “Adult Literacy and Numeracy in Scotland”, which laid the foundations for the subsequent work that has effectively tackled literacy rates in Scotland…
“The commission can be easily forgiven for using a bit of hype to give its points some bite—something, of course, that no politician would ever do, honest. I hope, though, that Des McNulty or one of his colleagues might, in the winding-up speeches, clear up a couple of points of information for me. The commission defines literacy as the ability to function in an adult society, which
“equates to a midpoint between levels C and D in the 5-14 programme”.
“Given that, according to the 2005 attainment figures, only 9 per cent of primary 7 pupils failed to reach level C in reading or writing and only 16 per cent failed to reach level D by the second year of secondary school, I was left wondering where the commission got the figure of 18.5 per cent for the percentage of pupils leaving primary school who were functionally illiterate. Unfortunately, the report provides no reference for the figure, so I was unable to check it for myself. The fact is that three quarters of Scotland’s pupils reach level D by the end of primary school—in other words, above the level of literacy that the commission wants for adults. While, of course, keeping a weather eye on those who need a bit more help, we should celebrate and applaud such success and congratulate pupils as well as their teachers and parents for hitting that standard. They will only continue to improve throughout their school career.
“I would also be grateful if Labour members could clarify the report’s claim that 1 million Scots adults are illiterate. Again, there is no reference for the figure. However, according to the 2001 publication mentioned in the report, the figure at that time was 800,000. Also, the Scottish Government labour market statistics show that the percentage of adults with literacy issues has fallen from 23 per cent in 2001 to 14.8 per cent now, due in large degree to the efforts of the previous Administration. However, 14.8 per cent of Scotland’s adult population is about 607,000, which is some way short of the million highlighted in the report. As I say, I would be grateful for some clarification to help to inform the debate.”
Read the full speech and debate here.