For Nicola Sturgeon, education is the crisis that is not going to go away. In part this is because she pledged that improving the performance of Scotland’s schools would be her top priority as First Minister. But it’s also because each new piece of data seems to present a fresh challenge to her pledge, because educational experts are starting to rebel, and because political opponents scent blood. Sturgeon is caught in something of a python squeeze.
She and her education secretary John Swinney are not helping themselves — they refuse to accept there is a problem and insist they will carry on with their plans, despite the warning lights flashing all around them.
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