JOHN Swinney has indicated that the government could disregard the outcome of a Holyrood vote if MSPs back scrapping standardised assessments for primary ones. The SNP administration face almost certain defeat on Wednesday, with the Tories, Labour, the LibDems and the Greens all joining forces to back a motion calling for the tests to be ditched.
Losing the vote in Holyrood would only be symbolic and would not be binding on the government.
Swinney accused the other parties of “political opportunism”.
In an interview on the BBC’s Sunday Politics Scotland programme, Swinney was asked if he would do away with the tests “if parliament votes to scrap them”.
He replied: “We’ll see what parliament comes up with on Wednesday.
“Parliamentary motions are not binding on the government, the only thing that’s binding on the government is legislation.
“So, we’ll reflect on whatever parliament produces on Wednesday in the debate but we will make the very strong, evidenced argument for P1 standardised assessments because it’s part of the integral process of learning for young people within Scotland and it’s important that we identify at the earliest possible opportunity the needs of young people and support them to overcome those challenges.”
Scottish Labour’s education spokesman Iain Gray said the Education Secretary was letting his ego get in the way of what was best for Scotland’s children. “John Swinney’s thinly-veiled threat to ignore the will of the Scottish Parliament on standardised tests will not deter Scottish Labour MSPs from standing up on Wednesday in support of teachers and parents,” Gray said.
“He should listen to the calls from teachers and educationalists who say these tests are useless.
“This week’s parliamentary vote presents Mr Swinney with the opportunity to suspend P1 tests and conduct a thorough and meaningful consultation with the teaching profession on the issue.
“It’s time for Mr Swinney to put the children of Scotland ahead of his ego and bin these tests.”
LibDem leader Willie Rennie called Swinney “astoundingly arrogant”.
“When Parliament debates the abolition of P1 testing this week, Scottish Liberal Democrats will stand up and make sure the voices of teachers and parents are heard,” he said.
“I’ve worked all my life for a democratic Scottish Parliament and I find it astonishing that a government minister could contemplate ploughing onward if Parliament expressly instructed him to stop.”
Scottish Greens education spokesman Ross Greer said if the parliament votes as expected, “there’ll be no justification for John Swinney to ignore the tide of evidence and the strength of feeling against this deeply misguided government policy”.
Earlier Swinney accused opposition politicians of being “ill-informed” and hypocritical.
The Education Secretary said he hoped for a “fact-based” debate on Wednesday.
“I am perfectly happy to have a debate on the merits of standardised assessments which is based on fact, but frankly many of the criticisms from opposition politicians have ranged from ill-informed to hypocritical,” he said.
“Some opposition politicians are now proposing to scrap P1 assessments.
“To do this would be deeply irresponsible, and parents would quite rightly never forgive any politician who puts party politics ahead of the educational interests of their children.”
Swinney said all but three of Scotland’s 32 local authorities had P1 assessments prior to the national introduction. That, he added, included councils run by Labour, the LibDems and the Tories.
“For those same parties to suddenly claim that there is an issue with P1 assessments when an SNP Government adopts the policy nationally reeks of political opportunism of the worst order.”
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