Andreas Schleicher, education director at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), has urged the Scottish government to consider Teach First as one answer to teacher recruitment problems. There is much resistance in Scotland to Teach First’s fast-track training. But, writing in The Sunday Times, Mr Schleicher - a board member of Teach For All, a network of organisations including Teach First - said that “Teach First is now so attractive that it can recruit the most promising candidates, even where the general status of the teaching profession is in decline”.

The proportion of young people in Scotland in education, training or employment has increased by 0.7 percentage points in a year, to 91.1 per cent. The 2017 Annual Participation Measure for 16-19-year-olds, from Skills Development Scotland, also shows a higher rate for those from minority ethnic groups (94.3 per cent).

Opposition politicians have condemned the Scottish government for reportedly having a damning statistic removed from an Audit Scotland report on the college sector. Reference to a 41 per cent drop in students since 2008 was said to have been taken out of the report after an official suggested that 2012 was a more “relevant reference point”. The government said the report was shared to allow comments or clarifications, in line with usual processes.

The Scottish Book Trust is searching for seven teenagers talented in creative writing or illustration. The What’s Your Story? scheme aims to build Scotland’s “teen literary scene” and includes one Gaelic-language place. See bit.ly/ScotWYS