The “huge gulf” in the number of subjects offered at Higher by neighbouring schools was revealed earlier this month by the Scottish Conservatives. But just how concerned should we be? Tes Scotland looks beyond the headlines.

So what did the Scottish Conservatives find?

They claim to have found that “schools which are only a few miles apart are offering pupils a vastly different number of subjects to study”.

Which authorities came out worst?

The two councils with the biggest gaps between schools were Edinburgh City Council, where pupils could choose from up to 21 more Higher subjects depending on their school, and Highland, where that figure was 24.

Why the gap?

The Edinburgh figure would have been a less jaw-dropping, but still considerable, 16 if it hadn’t been for the very small number of Highers offered by Castlebrae Community High, where pupils can choose from only eight subjects. Castlebrae, which the council saved from closure in 2013, offers the smallest number of Highers of any school in Scotland. The school had a roll of just 127 at the time of the census in September; there were 22 pupils in S5 and eight in S6. The council argues that Edinburgh pupils can access a wider range of Highers via neighbouring secondaries.

And Highland?

Highland had the school offering the second largest number of Highers in Scotland - Dingwall Academy - and a school offering among the fewest, Kinlochbervie High. At Dingwall Academy, which has over 1,000 pupils, students have access to 35 Highers (Perth High was the only school offering more, with 38 subjects). At Kinlochbervie High, pupils have access to 11.

But the Tories said that neighbouring schools were offering a different range of subjects?

The example they gave was Glasgow where “schools that are relatively close together vary from 13 subjects on offer up to 27”.

The school offering 27 subjects - the highest on offer in Glasgow - was Holyrood Secondary. The school offering 13 subjects - the lowest on offer in the city - was Govan High. Holyrood is among the largest schools in the UK with 2,000 pupils and Govan High is the smallest secondary in Glasgow, with a roll of around 400 pupils.

Glasgow’s director of education Maureen McKenna told Tes Scotland: “Of course, a school with over 2,000 pupils is going to be able to offer more in-house choices to pupils than a school with under 400 - Govan serves an area with much higher deprivation than Holyrood. All these are influencing factors.”

But the Scottish Conservatives said teacher shortage was to blame for the variation?

There has always been a difference in the number of subjects offered at Higher by different secondary schools, says Jim Thewliss, general secretary of secondary headteachers’ organisation School Leaders Scotland. But what we don’t know is if that difference has increased, and if it has what the cause is.

However, giving evidence to the Scottish Parliament’s education committee earlier this year Mr Thewliss said that it was “safe to say that the curriculum will have been adjusted in some schools and that some schools will have come to an arrangement with a school down the road… because they could not get a teacher.”

Could anything else account for the variation?

Under Curriculum for Excellence, schools are free to devise their own curricula. That could explain some of the difference in terms of the Highers on offer, says Mr Thewliss. It would be tough for the Tories to object to this state of affairs, given their desire for “real devolution to headteachers”.

Any other factors to consider?

Cuts to council education departments have undoubtedly meant that schools are unable to offer as wide a range of subjects. That has led to the “city campus” arrangements that exist in the likes of Dundee, Aberdeen and Perth where pupils travel to access some Higher and Advanced Higher subjects; in the case of Glasgow, there is the Advanced Higher Hub at Glasgow Caledonian University.

So austerity is also to blame for the narrowing of subject choice?

At least in part. And we all know who Nicola Sturgeon would hold responsible for that…

@Emma_Seith