Inspectors question McCrone value

11 Jan 07
A £2bn pay and conditions deal for teachers has failed to deliver significant improvements in pupil achievement, a Scottish education watchdog has declared.

12 January 2007

A £2bn pay and conditions deal for teachers has failed to deliver significant improvements in pupil achievement, a Scottish education watchdog has declared.

The deal was agreed in 2001 after a major inquiry chaired by Professor Gavin McCrone, a former senior civil servant. It gave Scottish teachers a 23% pay rise over three years.

In a report published this week, the Inspectorate of Education for Scotland said the deal had done little to improve learning. Graham Donaldson, senior chief inspector of education, said: 'It is clear that the implementation of the agreement has yet to improve significantly the learning of children as a whole.'

The report said that since the deal was struck, concerns persisted over standards, with 25% of primary schools weak in English and 20% weak in maths. In secondary schools, the performance of the lowest 20% had remained static.

This is the second report recently to raise doubts over the pay award. Last year, an Audit Scotland report said that it was difficult to gauge the deal's value for money because no targets had been set by ministers.

PFjan2007

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