The Scottish Liberal Democrats on Saturday informed all four parties in the Scottish Parliament that we intended to propose a motion of no confidence in Fiona Hyslop as Education Secretary.The First Minister has now bowed to pressure and sacked the Education Secretary.
Commenting, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Tavish Scott MSP, said, “Since the weekend we have been in discussions with all the other parties.
“There is a growing crisis in Scottish education that can only be addressed with a fresh Education Secretary.
“There are 54,000 children in P7 who face a new Curriculum For Excellence next August. Yet teachers say that they still have not had the details of the assessments and the exams that they need. Without a fresh approach, the new curriculum will be under-planned and under-resourced.
“There is a crisis in teacher numbers. The latest figures show there are 1,300 fewer teachers than this time last year. Class sizes are rising. We need a fresh approach to restore teacher numbers and give new teachers the career opportunities they deserve.
“Over the weekend, Fiona Hyslop fundamentally broke the relationship between central and local government. She threatened to nationalise every school in Scotland. Nobody believes that the Minister in Edinburgh can possibly run every single school.
“We need a fresh Education Secretary to rebuild that bond of trust and create a working relationship with councils and schools that will help children and teachers.”