Scottish education secretary John Swinney has shown no sign of backing down on controversial national assessments for the country’s youngest pupils.

Instead, Mr Swinney went on the attack at the SNP conference in Glasgow this afternoon, accusing opposition parties of “jaw-dropping” opportunism in their condemnation of the P1 assessments and of “playing politics” with children’s education.

Opposition parties combined last month to vote in favour of scrapping the Scottish National Standardised Assessments (SNSAs) for P1s, who are aged four and five. The vote did not apply to the other age groups taking SNSAs, which started last year.

Hopes fade of better pay deal for teachers

Mr Swinney reserved most of his scorn for the Scottish Conservatives, arguing that their opposition to P1 SNSAs was the worst example of opportunism last month, given their previous support for the assessments at all levels.

He also provided little succour to those hoping for an increased pay offer for teachers, following the breakdown of talks with unions last week. On the current offer, he said: “We will make sure the teachers’ pay deal is the best in the UK.”

EIS union general secretary Larry Flanagan said teachers would be “somewhat mystified” to read about comments from Mr Swinney that they are “apparently well-paid”.

“The reality is that Scotland’s teachers have seen their take-home pay reduced, in real-terms, by around 24 per cent over the past decade,” he said.

“Comparisons to pay in England and Wales, and to other countries, confirm that salaries for Scotland’s teachers compare poorly both to other graduate professions and to teachers in other countries. In England and Wales, unpromoted teachers can earn between £38,663 to £47,298 depending on where they live. In Scotland, the maximum for an unpromoted teacher is currently £36,408 - so the previously rejected [Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers] pay offer would absolutely not make Scotland’s teachers the best paid in the UK.”

Mr Flanagan added that data from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development “confirms that the average pay, internationally, for a teacher is £42,000 at primary level and £45,000 in secondary - or a rough average of £43,500 overall. In Scotland, the top of the pay scale for a class teacher is less than £36,500, which puts Scotland’s teachers over £7,000 per year worse off than teachers in other countries”.