Thursday October 1st 2026
Katherine Sangster, MSP for Edinburgh and Lothians East, Scottish Labour Party writes her monthly column for Midlothian View.
On the 19th September, Michael Marra was elected as the new leader of Scottish Labour bring a mission to tackle child poverty and reform our education system. It is clear that we face challenges in Scotland that need cross party consensus to solve. PISA results have demonstrated that our education system is not where it needs to be, with Scottish kids behind their English peers in reading, science and maths. As an MSP I want to ensure that young people in Scotland have access any opportunity, regardless of their background. These opportunities must start in our education system.
Scotland is rich in talent; our young people and educational professionals have so much ability. But our education system is not where it should be, we are falling behind. This year’s PISA statistics evidence that in Scotland performance has decreased since 2009. Scotland’s results are getting worse and the SNP have shown a lack in curiosity on what is going wrong. I am pleased that Michael Marra has proposed new ways to gather data, so we can identify the gaps and fix them. Education must be at the heart of our politics.
Scottish Labour want to reintroduce the Scottish Survey of Literacy and Numeracy (SSLN) this would allow us to track standards in Scotland over time and examine gaps. Giving us more data over time would mean less reliance on international standards time that only occur at specific intervals.
By standardising data across all 32 Local Authorities, we can track all data, consistently throughout the country. Policy can then be based on consistent evidence rather than the fragmented and inconsistent picture we have currently.
I want to see every child get the education they deserve, equipping them with life skills and enlightening them to all opportunities. Young people in Scotland should have the skills and confidence built in school, to go on and achieve their dreams.
Alongside our commitments on improving data, I have been keeping the government accountable on their commitment to ban mobile phones and roll out breakfast clubs. We must ensure that every child can thrive and learn in a healthy and safe environment.
My mission as an MSP is to serve the communities I represent, I believe that making society fairer and more equitable is the best way to do that. As always if you have any issues or concerns that you would like to raise with me, please do get in touch.
Tweet Share on FacebookNews
