TOO many county primaries have been graded poor by education inspectors, says an independent report by an expert.

Steps have been taken to improve things since, insists Clackmannanshire Council chief executive Elaine McPherson, who drafted primary school education expert Christopher McIlroy in to create the £7,500 report.

Published in April and given to all councillors and education representatives in June, The Quality of Primary Education in Clackmannanshire highlights that the inspector’s school quality indicators paint a damning picture in many areas when Clacks is compared to the rest of the country.

The report, which was originally acquired by the Advertiser’s sister paper The Herald through a freedom of information request, reads: “The most striking message is that the quality of curriculum (the sum [of] all of the learning experiences provided for children) in Clackmannanshire schools compares poorly with national norms.

“Across the country 62 per cent of primary schools have a curriculum that is rated as good or better.

“In Clackmannanshire, only 20 per cent of schools achieve good or better whilst 40 per cent have a ‘weak’ curriculum compared to 14 per cent nationally.”

It added that given all the emphasis on developing the curriculum: “[...] this is a disappointing picture relating to a quality indicator that describes key foundations for learning”.

Mr McIlroy looked at Education Scotland reports, published between April 2011 and January 2016, for 10 of the 18 public primary schools in the Wee County.

However, the Advertiser only found reports on the official Education Scotland website from the specified time period for nine local schools; Abercromby, Banchory, Coalsnaughton, Menstrie, Muckhart, Park, St Bernadette’s RC, St Mungo’s RC and Sunnyside.

In his report, Mr McIlroy said the best schools stand in comparison with other good establishments around the country, with all reports, good and bad, praising the quality of practice and the commitment of teachers.

However, the proportion of critical reports “is unacceptably high for a proud education authority and community that is committed to providing the best education for its children”.

Backing up the above findings, Mr McIlroy also looked at evidence from 2013/14 standardised tests.

Patterns start emerging in P3 and P5, but most staggeringly, P7 figures showed that 46 per cent of pupils attained below the national standardised age in mental arithmetic skills with 44 per cent below par in general maths.

Only two and five per cent achieved above their standardised age respectively.

The report said: “Overall, they [the above findings] indicate underachievement particularly as children reach the later primary stages with a pronounced impact on mathematics.”

Turbulence in staffing, particularly at management level, was mentioned in seven separate Education Scotland school reports as having a significant impact on the quality of provision.

Staffing changes also lead to inconsistent leadership and classroom practice as well as slow progress.

Mr McIlroy also interviewed a number of headteachers and staff, who reported changes within central quality improvement arrangements during the first years of shared services with Stirling Council.

The report said: “They described quality assurance arrangements following the development of shared services as ‘patchy’, ‘an inconsistent picture’, ‘some very good practice but a mixed bag’, ‘some teams with good experience of quality improvement in primary schools, others without’; ‘schools were left on a very long, fragile umbilical chord’.”

During this period, more importantly, the education directorate did not interact with individual schools about emerging patterns and trends. It did highlight issues when critical inspections emerged, but the paper goes on to say elected members and council officials would have been better informed by periodic reporting.

It added: “Although headteachers praised the effectiveness of individual officers working on quality improvement, there is convincing evidence that central quality improvement arrangements were weak during this period.”

Council chief executive Elaine McPherson, who it is understood commissioned the report, said: “We are committed to providing the very best education service for our young people in Clackmannanshire, and as part of this we commissioned this report some time ago as part of our review of education provision.

“We have developed a new structure for education in Clackmannanshire, and a new chief education officer – Anne Pearson – has been appointed, and she has now been joined by a team of three new improving outcomes managers.

“They are focused on establishing a cluster-led approach as part of an education service which sets high aspirations and expectations to ensure the best possible outcomes for children and young people.”

“The senior team is also working closely with Stirling Council to move from the shared service with Stirling in a structured way.”

“The Attainment Challenge in Clackmannanshire is also underway, and the team is working to improve literacy, numeracy and health and wellbeing of young children with a number of programmes and interventions.”