MSPs have inflicted a defeat on the Scottish government over its education record. They voted 63-62 to support a Labour motion stating that “many teachers have lost confidence” in national education bodies and that there had been a “decline in reading, maths and science scores”, after December’s Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) rankings of 15-year-olds’ performance. Last week, education secretary John Swinney defended the government’s handling of education when he appeared before the Scottish Parliament’s Education and Skills Committee.

Human rights expert Bruce Adamson is poised to become children’s commissioner for Scotland. Current incumbent Tam Baillie steps down in May. Mr Adamson, originally from New Zealand, is a legal officer at the Scottish Human Rights Commission. He moved to Scotland in 2002 and has been a Children’s Panel member for 13 years. Mr Adamson recently told the Scottish Parliament’s Justice Committee that the three-year time limit for people seeking damages in court for childhood abuse should be abolished.

Funding for a charity supporting children with dyslexia is being doubled, education secretary John Swinney has announced. Dyslexia Scotland will receive £200,000 in 2017-18 for its work, which includes running a helpline, dyslexia assessments and tutoring. Free online training courses are being developed to help teachers to identify dyslexia and support pupils preparing to leave school. The funding was welcomed by three-time Formula One champion Sir Jackie Stewart, who said that one teacher’s ignorance about dyslexia had “scarred me for life”.

Teachers delivering careers guidance can now use a virtual reality app to give pupils a taste of construction jobs. Virtual Project Manager puts young people inside an animated 3D world where they are in charge of building new homes. It has been developed by Skills Development Scotland with the Construction Industry Training Board, Edinburgh’s Heriot-Watt University and Animmersion UK.

@TESScotland