Former Westminster education secretary Michael Gove has lambasted what he described as Scotland’s “dumbed-down curriculum” and its “disastrous” impact on pupils. Writing in The Times, Mr Gove said the SNP had “presided over a dramatic drop in Scotland’s educational performance”, pointing to disappointing results in the latest Pisa (Programme for International Student Assessment) survey. Scotland’s pupils were performing “much worse” than peers in England, he added. A Scottish government source dismissed Mr Gove’s “ill-advised attempts to trash Scottish education”.

Talented pupils from deprived backgrounds will continue to be squeezed out of prestigious degree courses unless universities dilute the importance of academic qualifications in the application process, according to the commissioner for fair access. Meeting papers of the Scottish Parliament’s Education and Skills Committee record Professor Peter Scott commenting that using “only the highest qualification achieved as the basis of offers continues the bias toward applicants from more affluent backgrounds”.

Scotland’s largest council has committed to encouraging at least 10 per cent of its workforce to mentor vulnerable pupils in secondary schools. The move could lead to almost 1,800 council employees directly helping Glasgow’s young people to achieve their ambitions. The mentoring will be delivered through a programme designed by charity MCR Pathways, which is already up and running in 15 Glasgow secondaries.

A series of videos showing varied ways of navigating the education system was launched by the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework at its 15th anniversary event in Edinburgh last night. The case studies highlight a variety of qualifications offered by schools and further education colleges, in an attempt to make people more aware that there are different routes to success and to emphasise the SCQF’s role. Find the videos at bit.ly/SCQFjourney