Scottish pupils’ literacy skills falling

According to figures published by the Scottish government, the literacy skills of Scottish pupils has declined over the past four years.

The Scottish Survey of Literacy and Numeracy found that less than half of 13 and 14-year-olds are now doing well in writing.

The survey also reports that P4 and P7 pupils had seen a fall in writing performance.

It also shows that there has been no decrease in the gap between the performance of wealthy and deprived pupils.

Scottish education secretary John Swinney said that the figures were “simply not good enough” and highlighted that education reforms were now “imperative”.

But the EIS teaching union said the figures showed that Scottish pupils were continuing to perform well "despite the many challenges that our schools have faced in recent years".